Purge of Equilibrium
by Gramio89
Summary: When a mysterious disease leaves Victor with next to nothing to turn to in his life, the only thing he can do is finally leave his comfort zone and search for the life that he's always wanted to have and find something, anything, that will help him learn more about the disease to save the life he left behind.
1. The Ray

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hey! This is my first fanfiction ever, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a steaming pile of trash! However, I do hope you enjoy it, and if you did, or, well, think I'd be better off writing my last will, submit a review, send me a PM to let me know what I could do better! Also, importantly, Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, not me.

* * *

Hm? Oh, hey, pleased to meet you. The name's Victor, at your service. There's not a whole lot more to me than meets the eye, I'm afraid, pretty much anyone else here in Sandgem Town would agree with that, should you ask them.

So, what can I tell you about myself that wouldn't bore you to sleep faster than a Jigglypuff's Sing? It's funny how I've had to answer that question for sixteen years already, maybe a few less, since I wasn't born knowing how to talk, naturally, and I still have no clue what to really tell people. After all, sharing that your dad left your mom and hasn't been heard of since before you were even born is one way to make the first conversation you have with someone quickly and effectively become much more awkward. To be fair, I don't have that much of an interesting life, the most curious fact about me is that, as you know, I'm sixteen, and still haven't started any kind of Pokémon Journey whatsoever. Why not, you ask? The answer is…maybe a little complicated. As it stands right now, I can' tell you all the details myself, so bear with me, since I might have to give you a small recap of my childhood.

I grew up without a father, as I've previously mentioned. I'm not sure how exactly, if at all, that's affected me. Can't miss what you haven't had, right? That's what they say. Well, thinking back, maybe Mom always gave me so much affection and care because I was the only close family she seemed to have left. We had the entire house by the beach on Sandgem Town all to ourselves, and even though she was friends with the neighbors, of course, including Mrs. Sanders, my childhood friend Kyle's mom, she always had this lonely expression whenever she looked out at the ocean, as if she felt she was missing something in her life. I'm almost certain that it has something to do with my dad's absence. My dad not being there clearly affected her more than it did me, I always figured.

Like most, if not all, of the other kids, I attended the Trainer's School, in nearby Jubilife City, with nearly perfect grades, I might add, and held all things Pokémon as my utmost passion. I even found it relaxing and an amazing pastime to simply read my textbooks on taking care of Pokémon or, especially when I was a little kid, hearing all the fairy tales about Legendary Pokémon. I'd stay up late often, wondering if I'd catch a glimpse of anything that meant the awakening of Jirachi in the night sky, and there's no end to the amount of stories about Verity Lake, close to our town. I've gone there often, though, and there's never been a sign of anything special there at all, though then Kyle did swear up and down he saw a golden Magikarp one morning, yeah right.

Anyway, I don't mean to ramble. As I approximated ten years of age and, inevitably, the start of my Pokémon Journey, my Mom…well, she fell ill. At first, it was nothing serious. She just felt weaker, drained, and all overnight. She fought hard against it, and for a few days, I didn't even notice there was anything wrong with her at all. Until one day, she collapsed while playing tag with me around the beach.

She regained consciousness, thank Arceus, a few hours later, but by then, my mind was made up. If I had to, I'd forsake going on my journey and stay home to help Mom live her life comfortably as best I could, as she had been doing for me all these years. Sure, she had Mrs. Sanders and all her other friends there to support her, but that just didn't sit right with me. I didn't want to do like Dad did, and leave her alone, without family. Sadly, my resolve would prove to be necessary when she went to the hospital to get it checked out. She had somehow contracted an illness, that, whilst not being contagious, has been present for as far as anyone can remember, and next to nothing's known about it so far, only a few medicines to slow it's effects. The disease is referred to as "The Ray" by the professionals at the hospital …and that's almost all we know.

And there you have it. For the last…six, maybe some more, years, Mom has been taking the medicine to still be able to be at home, though most of the work and chores are completed by me now, she keeps herself healthy enough and if she's sad about having an incurable illness that'll be leaving her in a coma before long, she doesn't look it. Kyle and all my other friends all left a long time ago, with occasional visits back to Sandgem Town and an impressive and ever increasing number of new Pokémon and friends made along their journey. Some of my friends, I hardly recognize. A select few, to which I'm very grateful, had frequent chats with me through the devices at Pokémon Centers and sent me even more information about what it's like to be a Pokémon Trainer, which I digested and studied every bit as eagerly as my old textbooks out of…mainly habit, but also, sheer appreciation for being a Trainer. Even if I can't go on a Journey, doesn't mean I can't learn about it.

And that's what I was doing on an afternoon like any other, sitting by the beach, though far enough from the water, and most importantly, the Krabby, to be both unaware of their presence and perfectly comfortable. In my hands I held a few journal pages from a friend of mine, Maria, with a somewhat interesting reflection scribbled down in a handwriting that'd have you believe "scribbled" was actually a poor choice of word to use right there.

"_I do not remember it being covered in the Trainer's School just how much of a battle-changing effect the Love status inflicted by the move Attract and the Ability Cute Charm can have. Earlier today, I had my Purugly, Princess, use it on another trainer's Machoke, and couldn't help but giggle as I watched the trainer get increasingly frustrated at his Pokémon's defiance. When he commanded it to use Revenge, it instead approached Princess and-_"

My reading is interrupted by the sound of frenzied steps on the sand nearby, panting, and, shortly afterwards, the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Sanders. Normally, it's that type of warm, motherly voice you can't help but feel soother as you listen to it, even if she's not your own mother. Perhaps that's what made the fact that, on this occasion, she sounded worried, maybe even desperate, all the more disconcerting. I turn my head around to look at her, and, sure enough, that confirms my suspicions. She's got a panicked look on her face, and by the way her footprints look in the sand behind her, she ran all the way over here, not even bothering to take off her apron.

"Victor, dear," she's calling to me, and her tone and the fact that she called me 'dear' is more than enough to let me know that something's up, and I get up from the sand, casually brushing my behind clean. She does it normally, but this sounded more like a pleading 'please keep calm' kind of dear than the usual one. "You should come, fast! I think there's something wrong with Celia…"

Celia's my mother's name, and it's all that I need to hear to walk hurriedly towards her, after stopping myself from just sprinting to her house straight up, and ask "What happened? Is it another coughing fit?" I already begin to jog towards the house next to mine, Mrs. Sanders', and she follow close behind me, and eventually a little further.

"No, not at all, dear. We were just merrily in the kitchen, talking of when you and Kyle were just little boys and that Starly stole your lunch," I reflexively roll my eyes at the mention of the story. Thankfully, she doesn't see it, as she's behind us, and instead proceeds with her explanation. "And she just…collapsed…oh, I'm just so worried…"

She doesn't have to tell me what's worrying her. According to the research Mom and I have done on the subject, it's high time that The Ray be catching up with her, to have managed to resist it's effect for as long as she has is quite remarkable, something she likes to attribute to my efforts to take care of her. As if. Even though that would be what would make the most sense right now, that her time is up for now, I just don't want to believe it. Merely thinking of the idea is making my eyes begin to well up, and I feel as though I've failed to really do anything all these years, that I didn't go on a Journey for no reason, that I could've done something more…

I break into Mrs. Sanders' kitchen, and all the feelings from later are brought back twice as powerful when I see the once-bright figure of my mom still on a kitchen chair. Presumably, Mrs. Sanders left her where she was and raced to find me first thing. This is just like the first time it happened, and the two or three times it's happened since, during both of which, I felt like just now, we drove to the hospital…and the doctors were able to buy her some more time.

Inmediately, almost like clockwork, I state "We need to get her to Jubilife Public Hospital, now." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mrs. Sanders wiping her cheeks and dabbing her eyes with the edges of her apron, held in her hands, and nod, and then she's gone from that corner, off to find the car keys, I assume. In the meantime, I dial the number of the Hospital on my cellphone, and, like many times before, explain the situation, of a Ray victim fainting and needing medical help. Only ten, fifteen anxious minutes pass in a tense silence between me and the increasingly-worried Miss Sanders, who breaks it only to apologize around fifty times and offer me her chocolate-chip cookies which she baked a few days ago for a local, friendly competition with a few other moms. To the first, I answer with fifty appropriate variations of "It's not your fault," to the second, with the more polite version of "Hell yes," because I know for a fact that if Miss Sanders' cookies didn't win that competition, they definitely deserved to.

After that time is up, the unmistakable blaring of an ambulance's siren is heard down the road, and it takes only a few more minutes for us to help the staff get Mom up onto the back of the vehicle, and they speed off, with Miss Sanders' car, me in tow, pressing hot on their heels. On the way there, I disregard the views of the bustling city outside the windows of the car, tapping my feet absently to the catchy tune on the radio, that completely contradicts our mood, but the point is to not think of the fact that I might not be hearing my mother's laugh or seeing her smile again for… who knows how long. I check the time. The sun's beginning to sink underneath the horizon, which corresponds with it being around eight-o-clock in the afternoon, give or take a few minutes depending on how correct Miss Sanders' car is.

The rest is all just the typical procedure, and we're soon waiting outside a room in the ninth floor of the hospital, which is dedicated to strange illnesses such as the Ray. A good thing about this hospital is that, so far, in all our earlier visits, none have lasted for over an hour to get results, which results in the scare being minimal, after, of course, the gargantuan fright which comes with your mother falling off a chair in the middle of dinner. I haven't had an occasion to leave Maria's notes amongst my other things amidst all the confusion, so I've got them with me and it does wonders to keep my mind off things just what a Machoke does to a Purugly it's infatuated with.

The next time I get interrupted, it's an hour and a half later by none other than Mrs. Sanders, who offers me a few more cookies since apparently it's the best dinner she can offer right now. I accept them graciously, because more of them never come in bad, and I have no idea how she even brought them in the first place. Wasn't she driving?

I only get half an hour more of reading done, until finally, the door finally swings open, and on that moment I put my papers down and prepare myself for the worst. On the other side of the door are two doctors and a nurse, and, judging by their expressions…

One of the two doctors approaches us, and introduces himself. "From what I hear you two must be her son and neighbor?" He asks, as way of greeting. We both nod, and though I can't see very well into the room behind the doctor, the fact that I can't hear Mom or anything of the sort almost lets me know what's happened before it has. Almost. Something in my brain refuses to accept that as the truth.

"My name is Dr. Kenji, and I'm regretful to inform you that The Ray has reached the next phase within the body of Mrs. Celia Parker," he's not done talking, I can tell, but I'm very grateful that he stops talking to let me and Mrs. Sanders process what he's just said. It could be considered a death sentence or perhaps something worse, since she won't be dead, but she most certainly won't be truly living, either. Next to me, I hear a sniffle, and I simply nod and stare at Dr. Kenji's eyes with as blank expression as I can muster, but I can feel the tears beginning to form after once again the futility of trying to do anything at all about this disease settles in my mind. "She can, and, likely, will be kept here, and alive, through the public health service, though no other victim of the illness has ever recovered consciousness past this point, as it begins to cover one's entire system. I'm sorry…we would like to investigate it more," he sighs and looks around before proceeding, "but we don't really have all the funding we'd like. The Ray is a semi-rare disease as it is. Would you…like to see her?"

I feel both of their gazes stick onto me as he asks that, obviously, both await my response. I avert my own eyes and stare, suddenly immensely interested in the polished white floor of the hospital. What good would it even do for me to go inside anyway? To get yet another bad memory of Mom?

The subject of my memories with her brings to mind another question. What was the last thing I did with her, the last time we've spent together? Through the sadness and negativity, it takes me a few more seconds to remember that it was this very morning. She had been trying to clean the living room all by herself and was stubborn as ever to not let me help. Man, I hate how stubborn she is sometimes. I made a crack about her distrusting all men ever since Dad, but apparently she didn't get that it was a joke, as she got all up in my face about how that wasn't true, and I could only last ten minutes before I just said "Alright, I get it, Mom, sorry for trying to help. Go ahead and have fun cleaning up!" And that was it. I stormed up to my room and slammed the door behind me, and spent the next few hours lying in bed, reading a few of my old textbooks, and sometimes both. She wasn't around when I went to make myself some food, and I only briefly saw her as I left for the beach in the afternoon with Maria's journal pages.

It's really cheesy, I know, but the sight of the pristine floor being momentarily altered by something falling to it with a wet noise made up my mind instantly. Rubbing my eyes, I swiftly look up to Dr. Kenji and nod. "Y-yes, thank you very much," I say, with forced politeness. If maybe our last conversation was on bad terms, I want to at least apologize in front of her. Actual good? It won't do any, but I know it'll help me feel better.

We're led into the room, every bit as white and sterile as the outside of it. The walls are lined with medical equipment on shelves and odd diagrams, not a single cheerful poster to be seen on this floor. The other doctor and the nurse are whispering to each other in one of the corners, inspecting a syringe or something of the like, but quickly fall silent when the three of us enter. And, finally, on a hospital bed in the very center of the small room, is my mother.

I can be grateful to Arceus that she's even still recognizable, to be honest. Many of these types of disease might've affected her a lot worse physically. Her brown hair is loose, though she'd been wearing a hair band earlier, and her chest is heaving lightly. She's covered by a blanket of sorts, but I can see a few tubes attached to her body here and there already. There's a peaceful expression on her face, one she only got recently when she was sleeping, and I think that that's what I want to believe, that she's merely in for a long sleep and when she finally wakes up, that terrible blight will be gone from her body. Dr. Kenji joins his colleagues and starts another whispered conversation with them, and Mrs. Sanders steps back to give me a bit of privacy for the words I'm about to say to Mom.

I come closer to the bed, and extend a hand to take her own, under the covers. I find it quickly, and, thankfully, it's not chilled like you'd expect from someone who's dead, so that's a good sign. I close my eyes, though that does nothing to stop the steady stream of bitter tears down my face, and take a few deep breaths to calm myself. It's funny that thinking of words that will go unheard except for by me is this difficult, and important, to me. I take a good half-minute in silence, merely holding my mother's hand, and then just blurt out the first version of everything I want to say that makes some sense.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I begin, in a pathetic tone of voice, "I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's just… I guess that I've always been a little resentful that I couldn't go on my Pokémon Journey, you know? I stayed home and took the best care of you I could, but, for what? In the end, you're going to stay here anyway, despite any kind of efforts on my part." The tears begin to flow more freely now, and I don't try to stop them. "I think there's a way out of this, and… well, now that you're like this, I don't have any reason to stay at home anymore. The doctor said some funding might help," I chuckle and shake my head. Am I losing my mind? "I just…wish I could've known if it was worth it to stay all these years. I feel it wasn't, but now's my chance to do something to really make you proud of me. I'm going to get that money, I swear."

"I love you, Mom."

I spend another half minute with her before letting Mrs. Sanders speak to the doctors about something, and, unable to stay in there any longer, wait for her outside, feeling the emotion of sadness being replaced by another, equally unpleasant one. How do I plan to keep that promise I just made to…well, to myself? It's probably so much money they need, it's the reason they haven't given any specific amount.

I slump down on one of the chairs on the opposite wall to the door to Mom's new room and, out of the corner of my eye, I spot something. Little did I know, that could be the solution to my problem. The _Jubilife Times_ newspaper was the thing, an entertainment tool for others in the waiting room that presumably hadn't brought other things, like me, to read. But something on the page catches my eye. It's a picture of one of the skyscrapers on the city, and near it, the title "_**Want to become a Champion? Need some help?**"_

"**The Pokémon League foundation will be hosting an event the following Saturday for graduates of Trainer's Schools everywhere that have yet to begin their Pokémon Journey. The event will consist of an exam on knowledge about all sorts of things necessary to be a Pokémon Trainer, with the tantalizing lure of becoming Pokémon League Champion. A cash prize of 2000 will be awarded to the three highest scoring contestants, as well as assistance throughout their journey should they need it, advice, and six Poké Balls to commence forming the team that will hopefully become known to the entire region!**"

I stare incredulously at the article and read it time and time again. Of course! How could I forget? Every year, the Pokémon League does the same thing to pump young trainers to discover the wonderful world of being a Pokémon Trainer and to aim for the top. I didn't know that it would be so soon, but that makes it all the better for me. Most of the other competitors will probably be fresh graduates from the Trainer's School anyway, while I've been unconsciously preparing myself my entire life for this exam. If I can get to the top spots, I'll have everything I need to go on a Journey, some money, and from there, I could take the Pokémon Gym challenge to claim the prize money, and, ideally, reach the Pokémon League. That alone is a dream come true.

I grab the newspaper, planning to keep it with me and shortly afterwards Mrs. Sanders comes out, with her cheeks puffy, red, and wet, and she looks quite shocked to see me beaming as she walks out. I don't show her the article though, not yet. She walks up to me and gives me a hug. "Oh, darling, you don't have to act strong. I know it's a terrible thing for you. You can stay with me as long as you'd like, of course. And I'll give Kyle a call so he can visit you soon, too, okay?"

I nod, and grin weakly. "Thanks, Mrs. Sanders. Are we returning home now?"

She nods back, sniffs again, and begins to walk towards the elevator to head outside, to where her car is parked. "Of course, darling. It's late, and you've had a long day."

She's got a point there. I follow her half a step behind, leaving the hospital with more than I entered. Now I have Maria's notes, a newspaper, a vow to keep, and a direction in my life.


	2. The Exam

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Alright, here's the next chapter! I feel I should apologize for how slowly the story is moving, hopefully it'll pick up after this! Once again, I do not own Pokémon, Nintendo does, and if you think of anything that might help the story or my writing, feel free to submit a review! Or, if, y'know, you think I should be fed to a pack of wild dogs.

* * *

Alright, to be perfectly honest, the relief that I felt after reading the article on the paper was something that I really needed, but it didn't stop me from feeling somewhat glum for the next couple days, and especially that night, on the way back home in Mrs. Sanders car, this time for real in absolute silence, and I spent it staring out the window, for no particular reason, actually, as it was dark outside, and I could see very little by the lights on the road, though I managed to spot a grand total of one Hoothoot on a tree limb. Finally, the car comes to a halt outside the house next to mine, and all that's left to deal with are the typical formalities.

"Would you like anything else tonight, Victor?" she asks me, already assuming I'm going to be depending on her for the next few days. Which is true.

"No, thank you very much," I decline; flashing a quick smile that I hope isn't concealed by the darkness. Bidding her farewell, I reach into my pocket for my keys and calmly make my way home, with all the papers I've got tucked under one arm as I fiddle around with the keys in my pocket and look at the moonlit ocean. During the brief walk, I mentally go over my schedule for the next week, and it's relatively simple. Study more than usual for a few days, and then next Saturday, get a ride to Jubilife and do my best. Depending on the amount of participants, it should take them a few days to correct the exams, but it is taking place at right the opposite time of the year of when most people start their Journey to keep the number at a minimum.

I open the door with an exaggerated turn of the key, and try various times, eventually succeeding, to lock it behind me in the darkness before I hit the light switch right next to the entrance. The house is intact, and I've got no clue why I expected something different. There's the sofa, the TV, a few pictures here and there of Mom, me, or both of us, or simply landscapes and replicas of more famous painters and artists.

It's empty, though. Void of any other person than me. I haven't been alone in the house for a full night since I was seven, and I can't remember the cause, but ever since the Ray was detected in Mom's body, she didn't think it'd be safe for her to spend a long time outside at night, due to some superstition of hers that she felt even worse outside when the sun was down. Leaving the paper on the coffee table in front of the sofa, with the picture of the skyscraper that the exam will take place in, facing up to give myself a reminder every time I pass by here. As I set it down, I notice a last paragraph I'd missed on the subject.

"**The exam will take place at 4:00 PM in the fifteenth floor of the skyscraper located in Grace Street, Jubilife City. The maximum amount of applicants is fifty, and only the first to arrive may take the exam. You may not apply for the test unless you prove you have graduated a course at an official Trainer's School, so please take your Trainer's School Graduate card with you. If you get there late, though, you'll have to wait for another time to take the exam. Punctuality is important for Pokémon Trainers!"**

All in all, I see that as a good thing. So long as I make sure I'm perfectly on time, I've at least got an assured chance at winning.

Exhausted, I trudge up the stairs, painfully aware for the first time of their creaking, which resonates through the vacant place. The day's length and emotions hit me all at once like a wave crashing down, and not the size we usually get on Sandgem's beach, and I feel only half-conscious already as I go through the motions of brushing my teeth and changing out of my clothes. Tomorrow, for sure, I'll have to start reading up again and make sure that my knowledge is up to snuff.

* * *

The night passes swiftly in a dreamless sleep, and before I know it, faint daylight is filtering in through my almost-but-not-entirely closed blinds. I blink lazily a few times, fighting back both the luminous invasion and the returning creep of sleep over me. As it is, though, I simply spend the next ten minutes in bed calmly before I can finally muster up the energy to stretch my arm out and reach for my watch.

"Half past nine," I mumble groggily to myself as I return it to its place, and stare intently at it for a few seconds, appearing intensely concentrated when in reality, the only thoughts running through my head are 'Man, I really don't feel like getting up now,' and then 'What are you gonna do in the meantime?'

Can't argue with my own logic, so in a few minutes, I've managed to haul myself off my bed, shower and have breakfast. I nearly make both the mistake of warning Mom I'm going to use the shower and of preparing a second breakfast, for her. It gets me down for the meal, and it's needless to say it goes in silence, save for the scraping of my fork, which leads me to thinking having a Pokémon here would make this all a lot less lonely, which brings me back to the subject of the upcoming exam.

After breakfast, I try to study on the couch with the article in front of me for motivation, and make it through around seventy per cent of my textbooks, all the easy ones, in just an hour. It's no surprise that even I know by heart at this point the eighteen types of Pokémon, which can be more effective against which, known evolution methods, and other things I cover really quickly, like refreshing myself on the Sinnoh Region's geography before reading the paragraph below that states that most trainers get some sort of a Town Map for their journey anyway.

The rest of the morning, I spend on my laptop, looking at the list of Abilities that Pokémon are known to have in one of my final grade's books, and seeing their effects live on videos online. I remember having had quite a rough time in that exam, as there was just so much content to remember, and it was around the time my mother started showing signs of weakness, so I had that on my mind as well.

That lasts a few more hours, and I feel pretty satisfied with myself, all things considered. The whole episode yesterday is concerning me a whole lot less than I thought it would, and I've practically convinced myself that what I'm doing is the first step towards getting my Mom back healthy. And I always thought I was a negative thinker. Finally, when I can hardly hear a Charizard roaring on the screen over the sounds of my stomach doing the same here, I grab my keys again, and head out, walking the short distance to Mrs. Sanders' house and ringing the doorbell, which is answered before I even have time to remember I haven't combed my hair today at all, and results in her catching me frantically trying to fix it.

"Good day, Victor. Come on in!" She says, without asking any questions, stepping aside with a chipper smile to let me see into her house.

Their residence is much like mine, only decorated instead with pictures of her, her husband, and their son Kyle. A pleasant aroma lingers in the air, coming from the small kitchen connected to the living room, and I would soon find out that despite not having had any way to know for certain I was going to rely on her for meals, she'd made more than enough for the two of us anyway.

This became a routine, and for the next few days I followed that schedule, more or less. Study in the mornings, lunch and dinner at Mrs. Sanders' place, and in the afternoon, a bit of relaxation or workouts, which would be nothing serious, like a stroll halfway up Route 202. Since I never really went anywhere nor had to do much physical ability in my life, I'm in a good enough physical condition, and I don't mean my looks, which are average at best, but that I probably can't walk nearly as much as I hear Pokémon Trainers usually do, not to mention run and jump, and generally do most of the things that cause many mothers to say that Pokémon Journeys are too dangerous for ten year olds.

Today, though, after an unbelievably good dish of pasta, courtesy of Mrs. Sanders, and the longest digestive period I can remember following it, the mere idea of going up the hills and then down the ledges of the Route to the north appalls me, so I decide to take it easy today, and go on a brisk walk to Lake Verity once again. It must be at least seven months since the last time I was there, and along the way, I might even, with immense luck, meet a more experienced Trainer, though I say luck because there's no real reason for an experienced trainer to even be in Route 201. I've learnt how to stay clear of most wild Pokémon, however, and should be fine on my way to the lake.

Route 201 is the kind of place that you'd feel perfectly safe in nonetheless just by looking around you. Green grass that's miraculously and gratuitously free of any Bug-type Pokémon crawling around within it, the chirping of Starly on tree branches and soaring overhead, and, well, yeah, the occasional Bidoof, but they're harmless in pretty much every single way. I groan as I jump down a particularly irritating ledge that's the main reason why I don't like heading to Lake Verity, as I find it rougher than the ones on Route 202, but it lets me completely avoid an area where I can already see a few wild Pokémon, so it's worth the inconvenience.

It takes a few minutes of strolling down the road to the west, but I can finally start to see the path leading towards Lake Verity, and, to my left, there is another one which leads to Twinleaf Town. It's a curious place. I've been there once or twice myself, and it has this homely ambient, even though my hometown is Sandgem, something about its quiet atmosphere and the constant smell of fresh leaves transmits the feeling. Additionally, it's located right next to the tranquil, as previously stated, Route 201, and Lake Verity, being even closer than Sandgem Town. All in all, it must be a fantastic place to retire.

However, it's not my destination right now, so I follow the other path for another few minutes, having to slide down yet another ledge and nearly stumbling on my face as I do, and then, the actual sign of entrance to Lake Verity comes into view, which lets me know I'm currently in what can be considered the lakefront. Walking closer, I take a moment to read the sign aloud to myself, one that I've read many times before.

"**Lake Verity Ahead:**

**According to legend, the lake is home to the Pokémon said to be "The being of Emotion". It is because of this Pokémon that people can experience sorrow and joy."**

I don't know how I feel about that legend, truth be told. There are not many places where I can see a Pokémon which is _that_ unique living in the Lake, so it must be some sort of aquatic Pokémon that lives in the water itself, though so far I've only seen Magikarp and Psyduck in the water. The latter are especially entertaining to watch, holding their head due to mysterious headaches and generally living life without a clue of what's going on.

Today, it's the first Pokémon I see as I reach the actual Lake, a mass of sparkling water in a near-perfect circular shape surrounded by trees on every side save, of course, the path that I just came through, which itself is just cutting through the forest, so you can make of that what you will. The unmistakable yellow figure of the Duck Pokémon is a short distance away, searching desperately for something in a patch of tall grass right by the water. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looks even more confused than usual, and just a tad angry, so I make a point out of moving further away, yet remaining close enough to observe.

The Psyduck doesn't do very much more, though a few others join its search in the grass, around a few of the trees bordering the lake, and, after they all seem convinced that whatever they're searching for isn't there, they all simultaneously hold their head in their hands and make for the water, swimming back to wherever all the rest are, I presume.

It's only when they leave that I realize that I'd actually been somewhat nervous about them possibly focusing their anger on me, and I let myself relax some more, sitting down near the water's edge and winding down from the trek to get here. Maybe it's the supposed presence of that 'being of Emotion', but I feel myself get calm very quickly, and before I even know it, I fall asleep on the lush grass of the waterfront…

Only to be rudely awoken an hour or two later. I quickly jerk my left hand towards the corresponding pant pocket; I could swear I just felt something in there. When I find nothing, though, my eyes dart open. The first thing I see is the blue sky above me, with a few clouds and orange hints. I sit up, and, true to my suspicions, the sun's beginning to sink under the tree line, sending out the last few warm rays it can. But none of that explains the strange sensation I just had.

"What the…?" I mutter when, turning my head to look to the left, all I see is a few bushes at the very edge of the forest shaking with some creature's, probably a Bidoof's, movement, and then, there's nothing.

Either way, I figure it's time for me to head on back home for the afternoon, so I stand up completely off the ground. Much as I'd like to witness the sunset here at the Lake, must be a lovely sight, I can't take the risk of being around Route 201 at night without anyone else or a Pokémon, so I turn back and head through the forest path, spend five minutes climbing up one of the ledges on the Lakeshore (and falling down it twice, resulting in a hurting foot), then half-walk, half-limp back to Sandgem Town following the usual path.

* * *

Friday morning, I already feel a lot more confident about taking the test, and there's not more at my disposal that I could do to prepare for it. On the bright side…

At around noon, I walk outside and simply stand there near the road, looking up at the cloudless blue sky with a small smile. Five minutes later, I'm in the same place, only without the smile and instead looking down at my watch.

"Man, where _is _he?" I ask nobody in particular, and my question is soon answered by a figure, initially in the distance, rushing towards me, or, more like, towards the neighboring house.

After two more minutes, a Staraptor finally touches down a few feet away from me with a relieved squawk and a stretch of its enormous wings; it must've had a long flight.

"Nicely done, Max," says the boy on the Pokémon's back as he clambers down onto the ground, taking an unsteady step before pulling out a Pokéball and recalling his friend. The Staraptor's body turns a misty red, and quickly loses its shape as it returns to the capsule.

"Well then," he says, turning around with a large, goofy smile on his face. "It looks like you're not getting any prettier, Victor."

"Jealousy is a bad thing, y'know Kyle?" I answer, and we both take a step forward to exchange a brief, tight handshake.

I've mentioned Kyle quite a lot, right? There's not much to say about him. Growing up, he was my neighbor and best friend, and although he didn't spend as much time with his textbooks, he loved, and still does, Pokémon every bit as much. Since he left on his Pokémon Journey, we've had much less communication, but we remain friendly. The truth is that the Journey's done him good, he's perfectly fit from travelling all around Sinnoh, and he's just a little less dumb than when he left. I've yet to see it for myself, but he likes to harp on and on about how good he is at Pokémon battles, and though I take it with a grain of salt, I'm sure that there's a degree of truth to that statement.

"Hey, dude, I heard about what happened to Ce-… to your mother. I'm sorry," he says in a lower tone after the introductions are over and we're simply headed towards the beach for…well, I've got no idea what for.

"It's alright; I've had plenty of time to prepare for that, anyhow." Though it's still a subject I'd rather avoid, so I make sure to change it with a well-placed "So how come it took you so long to get here?"

"Oh, man, you've no idea. I got the call from Mom yesterday, you know? I was in Pastoria City, but I couldn't make it here because I had to head to Sunyshore for a trade I'd scheduled with another Trainer, and after that I had to rush back here. Poor Max's had a hard time recently," he explains, and I do my best to keep up with the geography, nodding during his explanation.

"So you got a new Pokémon then?" Kyle beams in response to my question, and enthusiastically pulls out a Great Ball.

"I was thinking that it would be a good time to start getting friendly with her, too, show her where I come from an' all that," he mutters as we finally reach the edge of the water of Sandgem Beach.

"I traded away Caleb..." When he notices my confused look, he fills me in "He was a Floatzel that I'd met only recently, but…" he pauses, frowning and staring at the capsule in his hand. "It was my first time losing a Pokémon in any way, and I'm not sure how I should feel."

Before I can say anything to try and console him or pursue the matter of Caleb any further, he shrugs off the matter and cheerfully proclaims "Anyway! Come on out," he struggles for a moment to remember something, then continues as a red beam shoots out from the Great Ball, "Mienfoo!"

I blink, surprised, and watch the red mist closely as it begins to take form. Mienfoo is the name of a species native to the Unova region, that up to now I've only seen online, and not actually physically.

On the sand before us, the Pokémon finally takes shape. Red and yellow fur, whiskers, that's definitely the Fighting-type Martial Arts Pokémon. I smile subconsciously when I see it…her, apparently, look around curiously at its surroundings, taking in the sea with a wondrous expression, and she seems to take a while to remember her manners and bows deeply to both me and her trainer. Then, she 'speaks', which is to say, I hear a few squeaks and other noises, and can't even form a basic idea of what she means from it, while Kyle, being her Trainer, understands what she's trying to say to near perfection.

It turns out that her name is Lin, and she does indeed come from the Unova region, from what Kyle's relaying to me. We spend the rest of the morning and a while after lunch, which we have at his house, (complete with embarrassing childhood stories from his mother) on the beach, with the two of them training and learning new moves and techniques, and generally just coming together. It's an endearing sight in its own way, and something to do when I look up from the notes I'm going over today.

We then spend an entire hour talking about nothing in particular, mostly about the stuff in the textbooks and how stupid it seems to a Trainer like him with a few years of experience under his belt and, heck, even to me, and he assures me over and over that I've got the test in the bag.

"And hey, who knows? Maybe one day you and me can finally have a Pokémon battle! Even if we both know I'll win!"

"Oh, yeah?" I retort, chuckling and shoving him lightly. "We'll just have to see about that. So, hey, when were you leaving?"

He checks his Pokétch, also known as every Trainer's best friend (alongside Pokémon Centers, Repels, and Growlithe), and his eyes widen as he seems to remember something. I don't have one myself, since I'm not a Trainer, so their usefulness would be wasted on me.

"Uh…I should get going soon, actually! Shoot, I'd scheduled a rematch with someone near Floaroma Town tomorrow, and I know that if I stay here tonight, Mom's going to make me stay another three! Just stay right there!" He commands me, and he sprints towards his house.

Because I can, I decide to follow after him at a brisk pace so he doesn't have to run all the way back to the beach, the poor soul, and I've yet to cross the road to get to his house and I can already hear his mother shouting something at him in the yelling room. Outside is Max, his Staraptor, and it seems impatient, though I can't imagine it is craving another long flight so much as it wants to get away from the noise.

"-but you actually came all the way over here and your friend Victor's going to finally become a Pokémon Trainer and he's got nobody else and…" it lasts for a minute after that. Then Kyle comes back out, appearing a little shaken up, though he gives me a triumphant smile and a thumbs up.

"That wasn't so hard," he comments, and I chuckle when Max glares at him and screeches dismissively, it's easy to get what he means. Kyle glowers at him then looks back to me. "It was good to see you again, though. Honestly, I think a Pokémon Journey is just what you need. You'll find friendship, adventure, and all that stuff. But most importantly…" he takes a deep breath.

"Money." I cut off his phrase, and the breath is let out in a chuckle with an embarrassing snort, then he instantly gets serious again when he remembers why I want it.

"Well, yeah, that too, if you save it up. Anyhow, you've got my number, right? Let me know how that thing goes."

"Will do!" I promise, and he nods, patting my shoulder before he gets back onto Max, and, with a squawk that screams 'Finally!' the two of them take off.

* * *

Thanks to Mrs. Sanders, I arrive at the only skyscraper on Grace Street at 3:30 PM, half an hour earlier than the test was scheduled to begin. The receptionist looks somewhat surprised to see me, but quickly recomposes herself.

"Ah, are you here for the event hosted by the Pokémon League?" She asks, reaching out with her right hand for a stack of papers.

"Uh, yeah, I am. Unless all the spots are taken?" I wince inwardly when I consider the possibility, and can't hide a sigh of relief when she shakes her head.

"No, it seems you're in luck." She smiles and takes one of the sheets from the pile, handing it to me. "Fifteenth floor, as I'm sure you know. You have to fill that in and hand it in along with your test when you're done. If you have more questions, I'm afraid that I can't answer them; you'll have to ask whoever's in charge up there. Best of luck, champ-to-be!"

"Thanks, you too!" I exclaim, noticing that she looks at me funny for some reason as I walk away and towards the elevator on the other side of the ground floor. I'm sure she gives the same encouragement to everyone, but I'm not going to complain, I appreciate it.

As I ride the elevator up, I feel myself getting nervous, as you would before a test, and more so when I look over the sheet, it has a really official look to it, obviously. At least it asks for things that are easy to answer, such as name, address, age, and that sort of thing. I put my hand in my right pocket to make sure that my Trainer School Graduate card is there, as was requested in the newspaper article.

When the doors finally swoosh open, I can only see a long row of seats lining the wall of a hallway, which looks uncomfortably like a hospital, with two doors at the middle of the rows of seats. A fair amount of them are occupied, and-

My field of vision is blocked by a middle aged man with a receding hairline of graying hair, a firm jaw, and piercing hazel eyes. His stare can only really be defined otherwise as strict, and I freeze in place. He cocks an eyebrow, but, unlike the receptionist, he doesn't stop himself from saying, in a raspy voice with a bit of an accent, "Yer a little old for not having started yer Journey yet, son." And that's it, as far as greetings go. He holds his hand out expectantly, and my intuition tells me that he wants to see my card.

Apparently, I can't even reach into my pocket to pull it out without messing up. I grab it and begin to take it out, but it slips from my, admittedly sweaty due to nerves, grip, and falls to the floor of the elevator. I get on my knees and mutter inanely to myself as I fumble to pick it up and show it to the man from the floor. He pinches the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb, sighing, but he steps aside to let me into the hallway.

Not two seconds after I step out of the elevator, it closes behind us and I hear it go back down. The man, now with his arms crossed, clears his throat to get my attention.

"Ya see all those kids sat down, son? Ya hafta know only two things about 'em: one, you should go and join 'em in the chairs, and two, the oldest of 'em can't be more'n thirteen and all of 'em look more capable t'me than ya t'be a Trainer."

I hold my tongue, both because he might be the one doing the correcting and I don't want to get on his wrong side, and partly because he's got a point, I haven't really made the best impression. I'm more than glad to turn away from him, though, and while he returns to his job vigilantly staring at the elevator doors, I scan the rows for a seat that's free, and it's not difficult to find one, there must be more than fifty here, plus all of the kids are sat mostly together. Just like the man had said, most of them looked to be ten, eleven, perhaps a bit more. Nobody my age at all here, so it's only fitting that I take a seat that has nobody else in the three seats on either side of it. The kids don't spare me a second glance, either, with half of them, the ones that must've been here the longest, having their noses buried in books, and the others filling in the same sheet that I've been given on their laps, using their books for writing support.

I haven't brought any with me, which, looking back, was a stupid move, but I just use the chair to my right and set the paper on there, taking a pen out of my left pocket (this time without any embarrassing complications) and fill in the sheet with my personal information. Once that's done I take a deep breath and lean back, staring up at the ceiling of the hallway and going over random information in my mind to prove to myself that I've prepared as best I can, but I just can't manage to actually feel that way. Great, I think the man had a point. Look at me, being intimidated by all these ten-year-olds fresh out of the Trainer's School.

I am knocked out of my 'meditation' by the arrival of another boy. I hear him before I see him, shouting before the doors of the elevator are even entirely open.

"BOO-YA! I'M NUMBER FIFTY! JUST IN TIME, LADIES AND-" I hear a light smack, and then the same voice hissing "Ow, what the…?"

Along with everyone else in the hallways, I stare towards the elevator now to get an idea of what's going on. Some of them have irritated expressions, but I'm on the other gang, being more curious than annoyed.

Getting a harsh talking-to by the man at the door is another boy, and, judging by his looks, he could be my age, or maybe a little younger, definitely not older. He mutters a quick word that looks like 'Sorry' and shows the man his card before he's allowed into the room. He begins to approach the seats by my own…then stumbles as another kid tries to trip him, but catches himself and sits down on my left without further incident.

"What's the matter with Gramps over there?" He complains to nobody in particular as he lets himself fall onto his seat.

"I've no idea; maybe he isn't used to people screaming whenever they enter a room?" Suggests a small girl sitting in the row across from us, her voice oozing with irritation.

He sticks his tongue out at her and looks at me with an innocent expression, throwing his hands up in the air with theatrical frustration and grins, then pulls out a pen (with the non-writing tip bitten on more than a bit) and begins to fill in his form, apparently the last in the stack I saw earlier. I note that he writes his name in as Justin Thyme, which might explain why he said what he did. To act as I'm not deliberately staring, though, I lift up my left hand and check my watch. 3:59 PM, no, wait…

4:00 PM. The door on our wall opens and a large woman steps out. She's wearing a hot pink dress with matching makeup that makes staring directly at her for too long similar to looking at the sun.

The man by the elevator clears his throat loudly again, to bring all attention to him, and I'm more than glad to peel my eyes off the bright clothes of the woman.

"Alright, all you youngins listen ta me fer a minute. M'name's Clyde, and this here is Gemma," he waves an arm to the woman, who nods and smiles, showing a row of perfectly, and flashy, white teeth. Next to me, I hear Justin mutter "Good heavens…"

The ma… Clyde, continues. "We're gonna be supervising ye during the test, as well as correctin' it later on. Half of ye will go with Gemma, the other half with me. If there are any questions, ya ask 'em durin' the exam, just hold yer hand up. The time limit is two hours."

And with that, we're divided. Justin and I both go with Clyde's group of twenty-five, while the other half follow Gemma back into the room she came from.

Past the door lies a room which makes me forget we're in an office building and makes me think I'm back at the Trainer's School. It looks just like a classroom, with twenty five desks ordered neatly, five rows of five, and a larger one at the front of the room. There's a blackboard on the far wall that reads 'Time limit: Two hours'.

I finally get separated from Justin as we all grab a seat, and the room is covered by an absolute silence once the scraping of chairs on the floor dies down. The ambient is incredibly tense, and all the mental preparation I did before the exam seems to fly out the window…I should've used the restroom back at home. Already I feel a few things escaping my mind…what happened to Pokémon with the ability Guts, again?

We all leave our sheets facing upward, and one by one, Clyde hands out a stack of more papers, face-down. Nobody dares turn them face-up until he says so. Once everybody has theirs, he sits down at the desk in front and smiles.

"Easy, everyone. Y'all have more'n enough time for this. Any questions, just raise yer hand. G'luck. Time starts…NOW!"

Frantically, there's a burst of noise as everyone turns their exam around and scribbles down their name, and so it begins.

* * *

Overall, the questions begin being simple. What types of Pokémon there are, filling in certain scenarios with what would happen (eg: You are facing a Mightyena. Which Pokémon do you send out, Kadabra, or Machoke?) and relating an item to the effect it has. I still miss a few, having the effect of the Dire Hit on the tip of my tongue, but not remembering it exactly.

I can't help but grin when I notice the question "_Apart from using the move Attract, how else can an opponent become infatuated during a battle?" _As I write down the answer (having the ability Cute Charm), I mutter "Thanks, Maria." Amazingly, Clyde looks up from his book and gives me a death glare, and I make a note to shut up for the rest of the exam.

* * *

Two hours later, Clyde stands up from his chair and clears his throat yet again; it seems to be a habit of his.

"Right, everyone, put yer pens down, time's up. I'll be takin' the exams now, you'll have yer results tomorrow or the day after."

Speaking of habits, Justin spring up from his seat as he slams his pen down loudly on the table, causing everyone to look at him with a bewildered expression, myself included, and, for good measure, he yells "JUST IN TIME, LADIES-"

This time, he's cut off by a collective "SHUT UP!" from most other kids and a very red-faced Clyde. Disappointed and pouting, he sinks back down onto his chair. After that, Clyde finally goes around and picks up the papers, along with the sheet we filled in earlier. When he comes to my table, he jerks a thumb towards Justin's general direction.

"I was wrong, kiddo, that boy ain't right. Got a screw loose or somethin'," he whispers.

I just smile uncomfortably and he goes on.

* * *

On the ride back, waiting a fifteen minutes after calling Mrs. Sanders the moment I got back to the ground floor, she seems cheerful.

"I've been to the hospital and for now, they say everything is going just fine with your mother. But never mind that. How was the exam?" She asks, and not just out politeness.

"It went quite well, thank you. And thanks for the ride," I add, smiling as I stare out the window and see a Shinx staring wondrously at the cars passing by.

"You don't need to thank me, really. Any kid should be able to go on a Journey, these days, they learn more than in any school…" she looks like she wants to add something more, but stops herself.

"That really depends. At least I'm going to have the League's help starting out." I think of the advertisement, some money, advice, Pokéballs, not a lot more I could ask for.

That night, I fall asleep the moment my head touches the pillow after a fulfilling dinner from Mrs. Sanders. The last thing I say before my eyes shut is "And now…"

"We wait."

* * *

**END NOTE: **I am aware that writing a Pokémon fanfiction in which, two long, boring, badly-written chapters in, the protagonist doesn't have a Pokémon is both a bad idea, and, as I've said before, boring, but I think that I might get onto that next chapter. See you then!


	3. Gaining Momentum

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So, not a whole lot to say here, except that this is the longest chapter so far, at 8.600 words! As always, I hope you enjoy it, I aim to please, and submit a review or send me a PM if you've got any advice or comments on the story so far. Or if, alternatively, you think that I should go take a dip in the ocean with cement shoes.

* * *

And so, wait I did.

Now that I've taken the test, and don't have to do so many things around the house anymore, not even mope now that Mrs. Sanders has let me know that Mom's doing well in the hospital, and I've got a feeling like you normally get after a bunch of finals at school, when you've got nothing to do and it feels good.

That's not entirely the case here in Sandgem Town though, at least, not for me, since I've literally got nothing to do, and my desires of getting myself into a truly acceptable shape for a Pokémon Journey are sadly a tad higher than my will to do the same, and even if I were more disciplined in that regard, I still can't see anyone spending a full day exercising, heck, that can't be healthy.

I've got to kill time somehow, though, and what better start than failing to get out of bed and instead sleeping for an extra hour more than you usually do? It took until I was dreaming with waking up that I thought 'Ah, sod it, I might as well' and actually woke up. I have the weirdest dreams sometimes, though, I should probably never catch a Drowzee or it might have to go to a mental institution.

I go through my morning routine slower than I can remember ever having done so, taking a long shower that would make anyone else in the house suspicious that also makes me thankful for the first time that that isn't the case, and out of spite at when I remember the encounter the other day with Mrs. Sanders, I take extra care in combing my normally-messy brown hair to one side. I can't help but notice my eyes, as is usually the case when you look into a mirror, and an offhand comment from Mom back when I couldn't have been more than five years old comes to mind. She'd told me that I had the eyes of my father, and that in them she was reminded of the things that had made her fall in love with him, and that every day we spent together gave her more things to love in that bright, almost yellow color.

My own sight of it right now in the mirror begins to blur as tears form in my eyes and that memory is dug up after all these years, and I chastise myself internally for not remembering it until now. It bothers me, that not only was my last time spent with her while she was awake an argument, but I've already forgotten some of the best times I've had with her…and maybe eventually I'll forget almost all of them, and there won't be a chance of creating new ones.

"I can't think like this…" I tell myself as I wipe my eyes on the sleeves of my newly-washed clothes, and the smell of it comforts me a little, inanely. I push the subject out of my mind for the time being and entertain myself with making breakfast while listening absently to the daily news on the TV. To my disappointment, nothing is reported about the Pokémon League's exam yesterday, and in fact, nothing very exciting is said at all, though there is a commercial on a potentially interesting show about a group that seems determined to investigate the legends of the three lakes of Sinnoh. Or at least, it'd be interesting if there wasn't someone new doing the same thing every half year and coming up with nothing every time.

I'm perfectly comfortable at home, but the little outburst I had earlier makes me feel like doing something productive anyhow, so I turn off the TV mid-report about a Pokémon Center Chansey that had single-handedly fought off a burglar, grab my keys and head outside.

After having completed the test and, for now, only in my mind, absolutely aced it, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not really officially a Pokémon Trainer yet, and that I can't just go ahead and set off someplace to go sightsee freely. I actually stand outside my door for two minutes before I think of something I can do, and am ashamed for not having thought of it sooner.

Some yards away and very little time afterwards, I'm ringing on the neighboring house's doorbell. I don't know how I could have just had the idea of paying back Mrs. Sanders' help lately through the thing I do best, menial chores. Admittedly, I've been in her house a lot recently for meals, and there's not much to do in there, she keeps it wondrously tidy even if most of the time, her husband and son are away. I think she has frequent meetings with other mothers of their neighborhood there, but if so, it's such an exclusive club that I'm hardly certain.

Speaking of her husband… he's standing right on front of me, peering down through his glasses to see who it was that rung the doorbell. I'm actually kind of surprised to see him standing there, as he normally spends weeks at a time away from home investigating some aspect of a particular species of Pokémon or another, then spends another few weeks here. Kyle owes his dark blond hair to his father, who has the same, though only on the sides of his head, the top part being bald. He either just woke up or is having a morning so lazy that it makes mine look like I've been training for the Hearthome Marathon. I say this because he's dressed merely in a T-Shirt and boxers, and I don't mean to disrespect Mr. Sanders in saying this, but it's enough to make me think I should come back at a better time. However, there's no turning away now, and he smiles maybe a little too happily to see me, which means he's either drunk or forced that smile too much.

"Heya, Vic!" he exclaims, referring to me with a nickname that nobody but him uses, "Long time no see! Come right in!" He steps aside, and through the door from the living room to the kitchen I can see his wife, already cooking up something for the three of us, which translates to 'enough for six people and a Snorlax'.

I oblige, smiling back and stepping forward, inhaling and, sure enough, there's going to be a wonderful steak or three on the plate today. And if I know Mrs. Sanders, they had better be gone by the end of lunch or _else_, no exceptions. At that very moment, she exits the kitchen and comes over to me, smiling more realistically than her husband, but she doesn't say anything, letting me explain what I'm doing here when it's not yet time to eat, and though it probably wasn't her intention, I feel a pang of guilt when I think of it that way. It makes having to explain myself a tad more awkward.

"I, uh, was thinking that maybe there's some way I could help around the house?" I begin hesitantly, looking from one adult to the other. "I mean, I've been relying on you guys a lot these last few days, and I've got nothing to do today, so…what I'm trying to say is, is there anything I could do to help you out?"

My gaze falls on Mrs. Sanders, as she's actually been around to know what I'm talking about, while her husband, though he's still smiling, can't hide a bit of confusion and generally begins to look like he wishes he were anywhere else at the time.

Mrs. Sanders takes only a few seconds to think, then sighs and waves me and the matter away dismissively. "Victor, listen, you've been working really hard this past week, and every day before that, too, and it's impressive, but don't you feel you need to relax sometime? Take a day off? It's every bit as important, you know."

I'm ashamed to say that it's something I'd not considered until now that she literally says it for me, and, at first, the idea isn't all that good, after all, I hardly know how to fill up a few hours, never mind an entire day. But she looks determined not to let me do anything around here, so I nod, and now I feel awkward instead of Mr. Sanders.

"I suppose you're right. I'll come back here for lunch then, I guess. Thanks…" I mutter, turning to waltz off someplace different to pass the time.

"Don't thank me!" Comes the once-again happy voice of Mrs. Sanders behind me and that's all until I close their front door carefully behind me.

Naturally, whatever it is I'm going to be doing, it's probably back at home. I always found it entertaining to watch Pokémon Battles on television, there's always a channel whose reporters are hard at work finding Trainers all over the region, some even in other ones. Even if it feels somewhat like the studying I've been doing up to now, what differs is that I'm going to be sprawled on the sofa watching and half-listening to it instead of fervently taking note of everything I see. That…sounds like an off day, doesn't it?

* * *

That night, I go to bed satisfied with the fact that I've done next to nothing all day, and enjoyed it. Sure, I wasted some time deliberately, but it's been the most time I've spent just relaxing since I can't recall when.

It turns out I had been more or less correct. When we sat down at lunch, Mrs. Sanders joyfully stamped two considerably large steaks on my plate and absolutely disregarded the helpless look I gave her, instead smiling almost psychotically.

"Enjoy them, sweetheart," she'd said, in a singsong voice with an edge that, if it were a lawn, it'd cut itself.

Sheesh, no wonder that Kyle's looking a lot better after a few years away from home. Mr. Sanders got one steak, but it was bigger than any of mine so I'm sure he walked (or rolled) away from that meal more than satisfied himself. Mrs. Sanders just ate other things, what she felt she wanted, and looked all too content with the whole situation. Didn't stop me from saying "Thanks", of course, but I didn't go back for dinner, I wasn't even hungry yet.

It's a little early to be heading to bed compared to my usual time, I think, but I have nothing to do after having a piece of fruit to both call today's eating 'balanced' and as a form of dinner, so I try to sleep the sooner, the better. After one frustrating hour of rolling around, I succeed.

That night, I have one of my weird dreams again, the kind of dream that you have more than once and you can narrate the events of flawlessly from memory. This one in particular, I've never really liked, nothing ever happens in it.

It begins with me simply standing in a plain of rolling green grass that seems to stretch on to the horizon and more, with the landscape remaining unbroken except for a few light undulations that form mild hills here and there, but otherwise, there's nobody here, but me, of course, and no building, either. Then, a light breeze picks up, nothing even noticeable at first, all it does is cause the grass to all lean to one side and rustle softly, in what would be a soothing manner if the wind didn't continue to get stronger and stronger.

It stops doing so when it reaches what could be considered a gale, and I have to turn my back to the direction it's coming from as it buffets my face with little blades of grass that have been ripped out of the earth or were already loose. The sun begins to go down at an alarming rate, and the light not only begins to fade, but the color of the landscape turns a dying brown from the lively green it once had only a few minutes ago. And before long, there's not very much for me to see. The new moon rises, giving next to no visibility of the now-barren field, and that's where the dream ends…

Usually. Slowly, the howling wind dies down, and I'm left in an absolute silence staring at the dark horizon and seeing nothing there. There's a tap on my shoulder, and I whirl around, only to come face to face with nothing.

Another tap. I turn around again, this time slower and a few feet away, just barely visible in the darkness, there seems to be a floating blue light. I take a step towards it and open my mouth to say something, but the moment I do, it disappears and I see the small amount of ground I can see becomes even darker, covered by an enormous shadow. But that can't be right, something has to be causing it. There's another touch on my back.

And when I turn, my sense of hearing comes rushing back to me, and I'm perfectly aware of the enormous wave, easily as tall as a skyscraper, coming from absolutely nowhere and ravaging the entire plain of dead grass that's only a few feet from crashing down onto me.

My eyes shoot open, and I'm back in my room. No massive wall of water, no unbearable noise, and the only light is the bit of sunlight coming in through the blinds. Definitely not blue.

I calm down in a minute, which I use scribbling down the new details in a nearby piece of paper for future reference. I wouldn't be interested in remembering it normally, but curiously, my friend Maria used to have the same dream about the plains, though we had them on random days, not at the same time, I think maybe she'd be interested in knowing how it continues next time I see her.

* * *

It's only mid-morning, after I've put the whole issue out of my mind, when there's a knock at the door, curiously enough. I pray that it's Mrs. Sanders having made a few more chocolate-chip cookies, and, groaning in resignation, I switch off the TV and stand up, making for the doorbell with contained expectancy.

There are two figures when I open the door. On the left side, I see a young adult, definitely older than me. She's got long black hair and is wearing a red outfit with a few green parts, such as the sleeves, belt, and even her shoes. Oddly, she has thick gloves on, and it's unlikely that she hasn't seen the beach. Next to her, though, is the unmistakable fluffy blue figure of an Altaria.

I'm shocked, to say the least, which is also to say I just stand there holding the door with my mouth agape and an eyebrow raised, silently asking for an explanation. Thankfully, the girl picks up the slack.

"Good morning, you must be… Victor, right?" She says, more affirmatively than interrogatively.

I manage a stupefied nod. She smiles.

"Ah, good. This dummy," she taps the Altaria on the head, and the Pokémon hums indignantly, as Altaria are known to do, "kept saying that we had the wrong house, and I've got to admit that I was worried. It happened once already and…"

It wasn't my intention, but I must've been staring at her like she should've been searching for a mental institution, because she quickly clears her throat and continues.

"Sorry about that. My name is Lisa, and I've been sent here by certain members of the Pokémon League Foundation to inform you that you, Victor Parker, submitted a brilliant exam this last Saturday, and have been one of the," she pauses and snorts, "'victors' of the event that took place that day."

The Altaria spreads it's cottony wings a little and hums a short tune with a victorious (appropriately) theme to it. The both of them stare expectantly at me.

Sadly, I can't humor their interest with more than very wide eyes and an incredulous "No way, really?"

Lisa nods. "Yep. I don't have all the details, I'm afraid, but from what I know, the exams were all corrected by yesterday noon." That's actually quite impressive. "In the afternoon, two of my colleagues and I had to go and inform all those that didn't quite make it of how it went. Most of them lived in Jubilife City, though, so it was just a bunch of running around there. We waited until today to tell the winners, because a full day might be needed."

I can't entirely see why, but that doesn't stop me from smiling cheerfully, and Lisa grins back. "Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks. It's a lot to take in, actually, so I'd rather not think about too much or I might get a headache. What now?" I ask.

She smiles again and steps away from the door. I've already got my keys, so I follow her a few feet away from the house after closing the door behind me. Altaria watches me every step of the way curiously, still humming something to itself.

"Now," Lisa begins once I reach her, pulling out three Pokéballs. "We've got to get to Jubilife City again, and there, you'll have to take a picture for your Trainer Card, get the prize money, a Pokétch, talk to the other two fortunate souls, and, if you want, a starter Pokémon of your own, or assistance by me in catching one." She looks to Altaria and clicks the button on one of the three Balls, an Ultra Ball, which becomes larger.

It's all unbelievable. I didn't even know I was going to get a free Pokétch, but adding that to the Pokéballs, and actual Pokémon, and goodness-knows-what-else and this almost seems too good to be true. Maybe I'm still dreaming? I read online that Altaria's humming causes dreamlike experiences of people who aren't used to it.

Seeing where she's looking, I ask "We're going to fly there?" I can almost feel the excited glint in my eyes.

Lisa shakes her head sadly, muttering, "Return, Polly," as the Pokémon's humming begins to fade and its form does similarly, turning red and being inserted into the capsule, which she places on her green belt. She's got three other Pokéballs there, and still two in her hands.

"Technically, you can't Fly on a Pokémon until you've got a particular amount of Gym Badges," she says to explain why, then, in a bitter tone, finishes. "Although I think I'm more than capable of watching to see that some rookie doesn't fall off…"

"Anyway!" She exclaims suddenly, clicking both the buttons on the Pokéballs and letting them drop to the floor, where they release two Pokémon before bouncing back up to her hands and she places them back on her belt.

Two new Pokémon are standing between me and her now. They're both big enough to ride on, and I get what we're going to do quickly.

There's the three-headed Dodrio, with one head appearing tired, the other, kind of annoyed, and the last, extremely confused and looking around disoriented. The other is a Gogoat, a Pokémon from the Kalos region that's mainly used for mounting, as they make for a perfectly efficient and comfortable means of transport, and when a person grabs onto their horns, they can sense the rider's feelings and act as one.

I hear Lisa grunt and watch as she climbs skillfully onto Gogoat's back with one leap and some help by grabbing onto its fur. She looks at Dodrio's central head, currently the angry one, and then points at me. I feel something poke the top of my head, the tired face, and my suspicions are confirmed by a giggle from the girl.

"Get on and hold on tight. You should be just fine."

There's not an abundance of space on a Dodrio's back, but it's enough for people to ride them commonly, more for their blinding speed on land than anything else. After two failed attempts, I finally manage to get up and hold onto its feathers and body for dear life. From atop Gogoat, their Trainer looks at Dodrio again.

"Alright, you have to try and match Gordon's pace, you got it? I know you can go a lot faster, but we want Victor to get there in one piece."

Two of the three heads nod with an affirmative sound. The other looks lost and confused still, but it's enough for me to give a sigh of relief. At least two out of three care whether I live or die.

"Let's go, Gordon, Jubilife City!" Exclaims Lisa, sounding excited, and not nervous and fearful at all (which I attribute to her riding a Pokémon that seems to know what its doing). She points in the general direction that we have to go, and then, they are off at a steady pace, around what a car would be like while still inside the Town, and Dodrio follows with similar velocity.

When we reach Route 202, though, both the Pokémon are free to speed up, and any thoughts I might've had of asking Lisa questions during the trip are completely shattered when I can hardly hear my other thoughts over the sound of the wind in my face and Dodrio and Gogoat's steps.

When we inevitably come to a ledge, Gogoat, which is ahead, flawlessly leaps from rock to rock on the way up, and I'm reminded that they live in the mountains, which would explain how adept it is at climbing sheer surfaces. Dodrio takes a second option and jumps over the ledge entirely, then continues running at the same pace, as if the height difference hadn't even been there.

Overall, the whole thing is actually faster that it would be by car, at least ten times as exhilarating, three times scarier, and it gives me just enough time to accept that I really did it, that I had no reason to be scared of all those ten year olds, after all.

We come to a halt right outside the same skyscraper on Grace Street, which brings a smile to my face. I get off Dodrio, though I can still feel the wind on my face and I feel a little lightheaded. I'm barely aware of Lisa recalling both her Pokémon with an "Amazing job, you two."

It takes until she walks up to me to say something but instead cracks up in my face for me to react. I raise an eyebrow, which makes her have another brief giggle fit, and then she points at the top of my head.

"Y-your hair!" She blurts out, and then covers her mouth to laugh again. Thankfully, her odd idea of having worn thick gloves stops me from hearing this one, so I don't get irritated so much as embarrassed. I take a look at my reflection on one of the ground floor's windows and, sure enough, my hair is blown back due to the rush over here, and I take five minutes to get it from that to 'bed hair', which is still better than how it was.

Together, we enter the building. The nice receptionist from the other day isn't there, and we don't pause to talk to this one. Instead, Lisa makes a beeline for the corner of the floor, where I can see a white paper stuck onto the wall and a professional looking camera, so that's probably for our Trainer Card pictures, and four people.

Three of them are familiar to me. There's Clyde, with his glasses and a few papers in one hand, wearing suit pants and a shirt with a square pattern. There's also Gemma, the woman who was supervising the other group, and today she's wearing a pitch-black dress and, once more, matching lipstick, but the dark image is contrasted by her bright white smile.

One of other two is a girl that I remember vaguely from the test. She was in Gemma's group, but while we were waiting, she was the one who viciously answered when Justin asked what the deal was with Clyde. She's around thirteen, I'd guess, mostly from her face, because she's not very tall even by thirteen year old standards, with dark blue eyes and curly blonde hair, looking around impatiently and smoothening out every crease she can in her white dress and skirt. With her is another young adult, very much like Lisa, even in the way he's dressed, with a red shirt and dark red pants with a few green parts on the shoulders and knees. At least he's not wearing gloves, though he's got green hair, which is interesting in its own right.

As we come near, Clyde sighs and pats Lisa on the back.

"There ye are. Welcome."

She just smiles and joins the boy, now leaning against the wall, and the two start talking almost instantly, grinning at each other. The older man then looks at me, squinting behind his glasses as if trying to recognize me, and then flashes me a quick smile.

"Ah, I remember ye, of course. I've got t'say, ya might not be very good at makin' first impressions, but you wrote one 'ell of an exam. Best in m'group."

The girl then steps forward, forcing a smile and holding her small hand out for me to shake.

"Is that so? Not bad. The name's Miranda, from Floaroma Town. It seems I had the best grade overall, though." She really didn't waste any time at all letting me know. Politely, I shake her hand carefully and she pulls it away the moment that's done, sighing and crossing her arms.

"Uh, my name's Victor. I'm from Sandgem." As far as introductions go, it's not good, but she seems to accept it with a curt nod and a little smirk.

"That's an ironic name in this scenario," she remarks, simply, and then goes back to looking at the entrance to the building.

Clyde clears his throat; how couldn't he? And then he quickly informs me that we'll be shown our corrected exams once the last person shows up.

It takes ten minutes for that to happen, but finally the doors open. The first person to enter is another Ace Trainer, as I've learnt that that's what Lisa and Liam, the other guy, are, currently working for the League. This one is another girl, with high cheekbones, and short black hair, that's laughing heartily at something person behind her is saying.

The real surprise is that after her, none other than Justin Thyme comes waltzing into the building, talking enthusiastically about something that makes his companion laugh more. Miranda comes to stand next to me as they approach us.

"No way. You've got to be kidding me…" she hisses, incredulously, and I've got to admit she's got a point, even if I've got nothing against Justin, the Ace Trainer with him is the first person I see with an actively positive disposition towards the boy.

His smile grows even wider when he notices Miranda and me standing there, and he comes to stand next to us. In line, the three of us look at Clyde and Gemma, while the girl that was with him goes to join Lisa and Liam at the wall, though she has the bright idea to say "Sorry we're late."

This prompts Gemma to shake her head and wave a hand. "Oh, don't worry, you're just in time!"

I know what's going to happen before it does. I see Justin on the other end, the right end, of the small line we've formed already open his mouth, and I notice Miranda's right leg instantly shoots to the side to kick him in the leg and shut him up, and he merely lets out a high-pitched whimper.

"I swear he must be part Vigoroth…" I hear the girl mutter beside me, while Justin leans down to rub his leg where it's been kicked.

Clyde clears his throat, and the three of us immediately straighten up and face him. He takes a step forward.

"Alright, listen up. This is how we're gonna do this. First, we'll give ye yer exams so ye can take a peek at how ye performed, what was wrong, that kinda thing. After that, we'll have yer pictures taken and yer Trainer Cards made. In the meanwhile, we'll give you all the nice goodies we promised, and after that, y'all have yer Aces help you out with a starter Pokémon. Does that make sense?"

The three of us nod, and he nods back, then hands one of the papers he's holding to me, and the other to Justin. Gemma gives one to Miranda, but she has to take it back instantly. The girl smiles sweetly.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You already told me I had a perfect score, right? I don't think I need to see it, it'd feel like I'm showing off in front of Victor and John."

"Justin…" I hear him mutter in resignation as he looks over his test, and I can't help but chuckle at his tone, unfortunately, I snort a bit too, and the five of them stare at me funny before going back to their business.

"Whatever," comes the voice of Miranda.

Overall, I did the exam rather well, not as well as I'd expected. The main things I got wrong, or rather, the ones that I'm most ashamed of, are thinking that Vulpix evolved once it got strong enough, and that Alomomola was an evolved form of Luvdisc. Those were pretty obvious, looking back.

Once we're all satisfied, or, in my case, I finally realized why Miranda was tapping her foot on the ground so much, we hand them back for them to be kept in the League's archives, and Gemma stands by the camera to take the pictures of us.

Miranda goes first, and it takes her a full minute to think she looks just right and a few lights have to be turned off so she's showing her best side with what she considers the right lighting, and finally she has her picture taken. At least it looks alright.

It's my turn next, and I glare in Lisa's general direction, perfectly conscious that my hair could be a lot better than it is. She either doesn't care or doesn't notice, and gives me a cheery thumbs up.

When it's Justin's turn, though, he sneezes right when Gemma's about to take it, and after that, he yawns. During the entire time his face is contorted by either gesture, I can hear Miranda hissing next to me.

"Nownownownownownownownownownow…"

In the end, though, Gemma presses the button right when his face turns to a relaxed, yet intrepid and confident expression, with a half-smile that's perfectly photogenic, and I think I can hear Miranda's heart breaking a bit to my lower right.

Justin's companion Ace Trainer, Sarah, heads up to another floor to process the images and bring us down our Trainer Cards, and in the meanwhile, the rewards are given out. Firstly, Clyde shakes all our hands and presses _2000 Pokédollars_ into them. I almost take them from him before they're offered, and I stuff them into my pocket eagerly.

"Keep an eye on yer cash, boy," he warns me, staring me dead in the eye. "Never waste more'n you should. It sounds simple 'till it goes 'n happens."

Miranda appears perfectly uninterested in the money and she sticks it into a small purse she's brought along without a second glance. Justin seems confounded to be getting it, apparently not recalling that there had been a cash prize.

Liam opens a crate that I hadn't noticed until now, and from it, he retrieves three large backpacks with an obscene amount of pockets that also have a sleeping back tied to the lower part of it, in a matching color. He throws a dark blue one at me, a dark green one at Justin, and delicately walks over to give Miranda hers, a black one. It's kind of a funny sight, because the bag is at least half as big as the girl who's supposed to be carrying that all around the Sinnoh region. Lisa comes over and takes another bag from the crate, a pink one, and opens it to show us its contents.

"Alright, so inside, we've got a Pokétch. Right now, I'm afraid that they've only got a few apps. Pink for the girls, blue for the boys." She brings out one of the famous watches, pink in color and shows it to us, though anyone that hasn't been living with a group of Gravelers for their entire life knows how a Pokétch looks.

"We've got a mini Teachy TV as well. There's not yet an app that can do the same things, so you're going to have to use this to teach your Pokémon moves through Technical Machines and Hidden Machines. Just insert the disk onto the slot in the side, and the rest…well, it's a fairly simple device, you'll figure it out. Just make sure to charge it whenever you're at a Pokémon center! The cable's included, don't worry." She smiles.

"And finally, you've got six Pokéballs in there to start catching new friends!"

We all stare at her silently, blinking in unison at how poorly worded that is.

She acts like it doesn't bother her at all, but she turns a bright strawberry red while she packs up the bag again and shoves it back into the container from whence it came.

Fortunately for her, Sarah comes back down right then, with our trainer cards, and she hands them to us one by one.

I take mine and nearly drop it (apparently I've got a bad habit of dropping cards). It's warm, which I guess means that it was indeed just made. I look ridiculous in the picture taken of me, so I get the inspection over with quickly. It's got my name, an ID number, my birthplace, and, at the bottom of it are eight little slots with odd shapes, all of which are currently empty. But I know those shapes; they're those of the Sinnoh Region Gym Badges. If/When I defeat a Gym Leader in a Pokémon Battle, they'll grant me their Gym Badge to place in the corresponding slot. There's no obligatory order to the Pokémon Gyms, so I better plan out my route soon. The more Badges I get, the more things I'll be allowed to do as a trainer, like, as Lisa mentioned earlier, use the move Fly outside of battle to get from one place to another quickly, though I constantly hear on the news about Trainers that ignore those rules and get caught, and therefore, fined. I can only imagine the amount that do it and don't get caught.

The warmth of the card extends up my arm, in a sense, all the way to my heart, filling it with a candid fire of pride at having gotten this far, though this is just the beginning of the beginning.

At Gemma's request, everybody in our merry little company exchanges phone numbers so we can call each other in case of needing it or any advice from the people that work at the League, as promised, and finally, it's time for all of us to separate again. It's going to be lunchtime soon, but it seems like that'll have to wait for now.

"So where are you going to head first?" asks Liam in general to fill the conversational void as we all head for the entrance to the building.

Miranda is the first to answer, doing so almost instantaneously.

"We'll be heading back to Floaroma Town. I think I'll finally be able to catch this Flabébé I've been friends with for a couple years. I think she's comfortable there, but she'll have no choice but to come with me. Then I'll probably head up to Eterna City and try to get the Gym Badge there."

She looks at me, probably not because she's interested in what I'm going to do, so much as she doesn't feel like listening to Justin right now. The problem is, I don't really know what I'm going to do, I just want to do it.

"Hm…well, I'm not really sure…" I start, stumbling a bit on my words, shrugging. "Probably catch something near Sandgem, and then maybe go towards Oreburgh. Depends on which Pokémon I can find on the way there as opposed to Eterna."

Justin had been looking at me with an interested expression. Maybe he's the kind that would rather have a partner for his Journey, though neither Miranda nor I seem the type, and he certainly doesn't want to tag along with her.

"I…I think Sarah said she could give me a starter Pokémon of my own, and then, I'll say goodbye to everyone, I guess. Train it around here before making any decision of going too far from home."

For the first time, he sounds almost as uncertain as me, though I can garner from that that he lives here, in Jubilife City. Who knows why he got here late, then.

Finally, we all step outside into the bright day. It's well past noon already. Clyde and Gemma don't step out, though instead waving at us from inside the building.

"Make sure to call us every so often, now!"

"Ya kids be careful out there! An' remember, ya ain't alone if ya got a Pokémon with ye!"

We all say our goodbyes to them, and then, to Sarah, and Justin. He comes over to give me a handshake.

"Hey, I don't think we've ever talked before, but I already like you better than Goody-Two-Shoes over there, so if I'm still around here by the time you get to Jubilife, give me a call!"

I nod and smile, shaking his hand firmly and raising an eyebrow in false disappointment.

"Don't I get a nickname?"

He looks at me for a moment, squinting and focusing, then lets go of my hand and walks away, and what he calls back to me makes me wish I'd never asked.

"Fine, see you around, Bedhair!"

Lisa next to me begins to cackle again, so I look to Miranda, and only have time to give her a nod as she fades away in a bright white light from what looks like Liam's Gallade using Teleport.

Finally, we're alone, and Gogoat and Dodrio come back out. Climbing onto the Pokémon back is made even more difficult by having to carry the for now fortunately mostly empty camping bag, but I manage, and the Ace Trainer and I dash off for Sandgem Town once more.

The ride is uneventful, except for the part where I think I see my life flash before me when Dodrio decides to jump when we have to go **down **a ledge, and I can't see how its legs suffer the fall without any complaint, much less keep on racing at the speed that it does. Once we're outside my house again, Lisa motions for me to remain on top of Dodrio.

"I understand if you're hungry already, but I was thinking, you said you wanted to catch a Pokémon from around here, and there's not a lot of variety, so we can probably get you a starter Pokémon and then get to know it during lunch?"

It sounds fair enough, actually, so I nod absently as I (futilely) try to fix my hair again.

"But I have to do something first really quick, if that's fine?"

She nods and leans back on Gordon's, the Gogoat's, back and closes her eyes, placing her hands behind her head as I jump down from Dodrio.

"That's fine, but keep in mind that Bidoof is a crappy starter Pokémon."

* * *

After a visit to the Sanders' residence to let them know I wasn't having lunch there (Mr. Sanders' expression when he realized he was _going_ to have to eat my share was priceless), and, more importantly, a well-needed visit to their restroom to free myself of the panic that Dodrio's leap gave me in a different manner, I rejoin Lisa outside and get back on Dodrio silently and on my second try. At least none of them look angry anymore. The Pokémon lets out a short cry to warn its Trainer that I'm back, and she groans as she sits up on Gogoat's back. Right now, it had its head low and was sniffing at the grass, but the moment she grabs onto its horn, it looks straight at me, and so does she, and two of Dodrio's heads do, too, just so I feel even more uncomfortable.

"All settled? Right, so where did you want to go?"

I almost answer 'Route 202' straight up, thinking that a Shinx would be a wonderful Pokémon for a beginner, both cute and powerful, and wielding the power of electricity, but suddenly, my dream from tonight rushes back into my head. I remember the enormous wave of water, and I remember the mysterious feeling I had the other day when I was chilling out by the lake, and that changes my answer.

"Lake Verity, I think." The answer causes her to smile.

"S'not a bad choice. Though if you were hoping to get lucky and have the being of Emotion all to yourself if we somehow find it, you're out of your mind, you can bet I'll be catching it instead."

I chuckle and as I feel Dodrio stretch its legs, getting ready to run, I crack "If we don't find it, I'm sure you can catch a Magikarp to console yourself."

I don't know what her response to that comment is, as right then both the Pokémon let out a low cry and kick off in a different direction, towards Lake Verity. It's a shorter way that it is to Jubilife, so we should be there in about…

Three minutes is all takes. Well, three minutes and one Dodrio jump, which, while I'm getting used to it, felt like an eternity until we finally touched the ground again, and my heart is still beating like a drum when it's recalled into its Pokéball. Right now, we're next to the slim forest path that leads to the lake, and Lisa doesn't go any further.

"I'll stay here and watch. If something happens, I'll help you out, but otherwise, Pokémon are more likely to come near you if you're alone. Make sure to get a Pokéball, though, from the bag."

That's actually quite a good point. I quickly mutter "Right" as I take the cumbersome pack off and set it on the ground. I left my watch at home, so I put on the Pokétch right there, and though right now it's only showing the time (and a cute image of a Pikachu), it feels more comfortable, and that's saying something, I feel as if I wasn't wearing a watch at all.

My fingers brush the Teachy TV, but that's not what I looking for right now, and they soon come into contact with the small form of an inactive Pokéball. I pull it out, drop it back in, and then pull it back out with either a trembling hand or suddenly in the middle of a magnitude 8 earthquake.

Lisa nods and leans on a tree with her arms crossed, looking out to the lake. Guess that from now on it is time I do something for myself. I stand up, Pokéball in hand, and take a minute to put on the bag again before going straight for the water's edge. There, I see…

The usual. Magikarp swimming around aimlessly and Psyduck doing much the same, only more comically. I frown in disappointment, even if it isn't the Pokémon's fault that I'd gotten my hopes up for no reason at coming here.

I look to the left and see the bush that had been rustling the other day. Maybe whatever it was ran in that direction? Could be there now, or maybe it left me something. I look over my shoulder and see that Lisa's staring intently at me, so if there is something, she'll have my back, and if there isn't, she'll just think I'm a bit odd for heading there, though she likely already thinks that, so it's a win-win situation.

I step slowly and lightly, in a senseless attempt to be stealthy in broad daylight and reach the shrub.

There's nothing in it at first glance. I fight any urge to look over my shoulder and try to discern the Ace Trainer's expression; it wouldn't do much good at this distance anyhow. I circle around it and crouch, thinking I see something blue at the base of it on the other side. A closer look reveal two Oran Berries 'hidden' underneath it's leaves, probably by a solitary Pokémon, as one that lived in a group with other of its species would have it in a common area to share.

But what could that Pokémon be? Clearly, it would have to be something fast, or small, that I didn't see it the other day and most likely either not accepted in the groups of Psyduck or Starly in here because it's weak, bad-tempered, or just not native to Verity Lake.

Whatever might be the case, I set my bag on the floor beside me. I notice one of the pockets on its side has the figure of a Cheri Berry sewn onto it in orange thread, which is perfectly noticeable as the bag is dark blue. That must mean that the pocket is specialized to hold berries. I open it and, sure enough, the pocket is divided into six thin columns, so you can place up to six different kinds of berries in there without mixing them up. I take one of the Oran Berries and drop it into the leftmost division of the pocket, but freeze when I close my hand around the second one.

I hear a strange sniffing noise behind me, and remember that after going into Mrs. Sanders' kitchen, I must smell of delicious food, if the scent stuck. That could be a bad thing, for sure. At any rate, to show that I mean no harm to whatever's there, I close my eyes, stand up, and hold my hands above my head, but closed, so I don't drop the Pokéball nor the berry, and turn around slowly.

There's nothing for a few seconds. Then, I feel a pair of steady, but small, hands grab onto my leg, and impulse the body of the creature upwards. Then I feel what I assume are feet, which have a similar texture to the hands, on my shoulder. There's a pat on the back of my head, a small cry that sounds a bit like a croak, then it's gone off me. I don't hear it land, but there's another, similar noise on the ground in front of me, and I open my eyes and stare downwards.

I don't see it at first, but it's hard to miss the blue skin against the dark green of the forest floor. Standing at my feet and looking up at me with considerably large eyes is a Froakie, or I think that was the name. It's a species from Kalos, like Gogoat, and they're definitely not around Verity Lake. Which is why it makes no sense for this one to be here. Since I went into the beginning of the forest, I don't think Lisa can see me right now, so I should be very careful.

"Uh…I guess these berries are yours?" I ask it, speaking slowly and clearly, then not taking my eyes off the eyes of the Pokémon, I lower my left hand, with the berry in it, and hold it out downwards towards it. It's a male, by the sound of its cries so far.

He simply nods once; with an affirmative sound, then he quickly look around to both sides for some reason before reaching out and taking the berry into his hand. Slowly, after he sees I don't do anything else, he brings the blue fruit to his mouth and takes a bite out of it.

I watch it eat in silence, but then I think of the possibilities. It's quite a rare Pokémon to see around here, and it might make a better choice even than a Shinx, so I might as well take a chance.

"Hey, I don't think I've seen any other Froakies around here. Are you…alone?" I ask, already trying to add a sympathetic tone to my voice.

He stops eating and studies me again with his eyes, that are actually so big they stick out a bit above his head, then, in a sad, dejected tone, hangs his head and croaks out "Fro..."

I crouch down so that my eyes are almost level with him. He moves backwards some, but then, with another sniffing noise, he returns to his previous spot. I'll have to thank Mrs. Sanders later.

"And two Oran Berries aren't enough for a young Pokémon like you to grow big and strong. But hey, you can probably smell it; I have more food than I know what to do with! But nobody to share it with…" I trail off, leaving a clear insinuation of what I mean. At that moment, I open my right hand and show him the Pokéball, touching the button so that it grows larger. All I have to do now is touch him with the button and the capturing process will begin, but when a Pokémon willing to be captured, it goes flawlessly, so I'd rather if he truly agreed first.

"What do you say? Partners?" I offer in a kind whisper.

If I were him, alone and having trouble collecting food, I know what my answer would be in a heartbeat. However, he takes a few seconds to think it over; even finishing his Berry while staring intently at the button. Then I hear a low growl coming from his stomach, and his hand shoots out to touch it.

Instantly, his figure becomes blurry, begins to change color to red, and slowly loses its form as the capsule tries to contain him within. It shakes in my hand one time, strongly.

Twice, a little weaker.

Thrice, just barely.

And following that is the most satisfying click I've ever heard.

* * *

I remain crouched and perfectly still. I did it, I got my first Pokémon! By myself, mostly, too, and it and I already seem to get along! The moment is also captured, in my mind, forever. Finally, a light breeze flows through the branches and the bush behind me, and this time, it's not a Pokémon rustling it.

I let out a hearty, relieved laughter that would make Lisa proud, and still don't get up nor put on my bag again. First, I activate the Pokéball and let it drop to the ground, catching it as it bounces back up and emits the same red beam as earlier.

And back on the forest floor is the Froakie, one hand scratching behind his head and looking around to see if the scenery has changed at all. After he sees it doesn't, it cracks the closest thing to a smile I've seen it do so far, and turns to me. When it opens its mouth, what comes out isn't a croak, or the name of his species.

"All I'm saying is you'd better keep your end of the promise. I'm starving."


	4. Taking Flight

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **The next chapter's up! It's somewhat shorter than the last one. There's not a whole lot more to add. As always, please leave a review if you enjoyed the story or have any tips for me to improve my writing, it would mean a lot. Follow the same procedure if you'd rather burn me at a stake.

* * *

And it's just that simple, really. That's how you capture a Pokémon. In fact, I might've even made that excessively complex for what it normally is. Truth be told, it wasn't what most people refer to when they talk about a 'capture', usually that implies a battle against the Pokémon until, for one reason or another it accepts to let itself be captured, with a part that leaves them no room for how they feel on the subject of being caught depending on what type of Pokéball is used. A Pokémon that's aware of how, for example, an Ultra Ball is more prestigious than a Great Ball might have his mind changed because it knows that the trainer is one that knows what they're doing. If they're not, it still has a higher chance of capturing a Pokémon.

Please excuse the brief exposition there, but it's better to be explaining that to you than telling you what my thoughts were filled with as I walked back to rejoin Lisa with the Froakie on my shoulder. For the record, it was mostly 'Dear Arceus I cannot believe I just caught a Froakie in Lake Verity' and other variations of that with more vulgar language.

The Pokémon isn't very heavy, which makes having him on my shoulder not terribly inconvenient. Besides, being in that position has something that he sees as an advantage and wastes no time in explaining.

"This way, we can talk in a lower voice so we can be more alert on the road."

It would sound oddly paranoid to me, but coming from a Pokémon who's been out of his habitat for at least a week, I guess it's an excusable concern. I've got more than a few questions for him. Obviously I need to get to know him if I want to be a semi-decent Trainer, but they should probably wait until I've upheld my end of the deal and we're eating something. There's just one thing that I feel shouldn't wait.

"Sorry, I must've forgotten my manners. What's your name?" I ask, staring at the blue figure from the corner of my eyes and grinning when I see Lisa leans forward from the tree with a shocked jump, already beginning to walk towards us.

Froakie only has time to mutter "I have none, but I'll think of something," before she gets to us, and she must've thought that what he said was a greeting for her, because she happily exclaims "Hello to you too!"

He shoots me a quick, concerned glance, and then hops down onto the ground. For the second time I notice how strong his legs are whenever he actually uses them to jump, which would explain how he was so quick in hiding last time I was here, he must be a quick runner with those. I really need to refresh my knowledge on Froakies. Once he's down, he makes a few meaningless noises, which means Lisa and I both hear the same happy sounding "Fro!"'s.

The Ace Trainer's eyes seem to glow when she looks at it, and she crouches to pat Froakie's head and stroke it lightly, cooing "Aw, he's just so _adorable!"_

At first glance, he looks to be enjoying it, but after it goes on for a full minute, he decides he's had enough and the next time her hand is about to come down to pet him, he leaps to safety and makes it easily back on my right shoulder.

"She won't be tagging along, will she?" He asks, first thing, staring straight at me with a near-panicked expression and all his muscles tightened.

I shake my head lightly, which seems to relax him and get the point across. Lisa stares enthralled at me for a few more seconds. That's a first, a nice girl showing that much interest in me? Then, with the faintest hint of a blush, she looks me dead in the eye.

"Sorry, I just hadn't seen a Froakie before…" Figures, not sure what I'd been thinking.

We walk back to the lakefront, where the sign that briefly explained the legend of Lake Verity was without the presence of Dodrio or Gogoat. Nobody speaks, but I take the occasion to think. Not only do I have a lot to talk about with my new partner, but from now on, how we proceed is completely up to me, or us, I suppose. I've still got a lot of firsts to do as a Pokémon Trainer. How will my first battle go? I imagine it'll be later today, against a wild Pokémon, but will I win, or will I crash and burn before I even get started? It's not that I don't believe in Froakie's ability to win, but having strong Pokémon means nothing if the Trainer isn't up to par. And then what? We might be able to train around here for a few days at most, but after that we'll need different kinds of experiences to keep growing, and then I'll finally have to set out for real, be on my own. I can only wonder what he's thinking, having decided to take a chance and go on a journey with a stranger. A stranger that can offer him food, but I feel that in exchange for that type of trust, I need to do my best not to let him down.

Pokémon are kind of like family in that sense, eh?

Which also begs the question: will any of this help my mother, in the long run?

Once we're at the sign, though, Lisa takes a deep breath and turns to me with her lips forming a slight downward curve.

"I think you should recall Froakie for the ride back. Might be shaky, as you know..."

Truth be told I'm kind of surprised she didn't ask to carry him while on Gogoat to pet him a bit more. Either way, she's got a point. I reach down to the Pokéball, which right now I've got in my pocket with my keys (please tell me I didn't drop those because of Dodrio), and the creature on my shoulder reacts to its presence by looking at me curiously for an explanation.

"I'm just going to have to put you back in the ball for a few minutes until we get to someplace we can eat, and then you'll be back out," I say, and though his expression remains wary, he appears to accept it and lets himself return to the inside of the capsule. I can only theorize what it must be like in there. Maybe I could ask him sometime?

I'm busy wondering if the inside of a Luxury Ball constantly smells like newly-washed clothes or whatever the Pokémon caught inside it would find pleasant when there's not one but three taps on my back. I turn around to see what the matter is and my heart nearly shoots up my throat when I see all three of Dodrio's heads a few inches from mine, all of them smiling as widely as one might be able to with a beak.

From on top of Gordon, Lisa giggles again, a sound that's actually starting to bother me come this point. All of a sudden, she calms down completely and in a perfectly serious and nonchalant tone, she remarks "I think he likes you."

That would explain the trying to give me a heart attack with every ledge we come across and what must've been the first time ever a Dodrio has used the move Scary Face.

"No shit," I answer as I successfully get on the Pokémon back, on my first try, for once.

* * *

Three minutes and almost a change of pants later, we get to our destination, which as it turns out wasn't my house. Instead, we dismount in front of the Pokémon Center, a place that I don't normally go to very much, but everyone knows where it is anyway. In fact, anyone knows where anything is in Sandgem Town; it's not that big at all.

Lisa's reasons for coming here are the following. "Well, it'd be better to show you how a Pokémon Center works when you actually need it, but I've already checked in at it because I wanted to leave my bag in a room there; carrying it around is not something I find particularly comfortable. Anyhow, I've got some food for Pokémon specifically in there, so I could give you enough for Froakie, and you two could eat together while I eat with my Pokémon and we meet back here in," she looks down at her Pokétch, "hour and a half?"

"Sounds fair," I reply, and wait there for a couple of minutes as she rushes up to her room and back down to hand me a small, sealed plastic blue bag. There are plenty of these in the Poké Mart; they're just Pokéblocks that any Pokémon would enjoy. Not only that, but she hands me a type of body soap in a bottle, and explains that most Frog Pokémon like to take frequent baths to moisturize their skin, and that I might as well give it some helpful products. Thanking her and bidding her farewell for now, we part ways and I head back home at a brisk pace.

Just in case, I choose to wait until the second I lock the door behind me to take out Froakie's Pokéball again and send him back out into the world. It's not the first time a Pokémon's in our house's living room, but it certainly is the first time that my own Pokémon is, and it also feels like one of those 'firsts' as a trainer I should hold onto, and I take a mental photograph of the moment, cherishing it. It also lasts around five seconds.

"Nice place. If it's yours, that is."

It doesn't feel forced. Sure, he was probably saying that to remind me that he's there and that he wants to be fed, kocking me out of my stupor, but that it's genuine helps, as well.

"I suppose it's our place, now. We won't be here forever, though, so don't get too used to it." I begin to take off the almost-empty-yet-still-cumbersome bag and I let it drop right next to the door, to be grabbed on my way out, and I leave Froakie's Pokéball on a shelf to my left that my bag is leaning against, also to get it later, along with the bottle that Lisa gave me. I make a mental note to ask the Ace Trainer where to get one of those belts to carry around Pokéballs.

I make for the kitchen, and, rather than look all around and ask questions on most things, or just tag along wordlessly, I'm quite surprised to see that the Pokémon's already there, in his usual crouch on the table waiting for me to get there. Clearly, he's not the most talkative personality around, but to be fair, neither am I. That's bound to make our journey together 'interesting'.

I look down at the blue bag in my hands and turn it over to see if there are any instructions on it that specify that the Pokéblocks need to be warmed up, but if that's the case, it doesn't say so, and I figure it must be a no-brainer, so I take one of the bowls I normally use for cereal during breakfast and pour in the contents of the bag after tearing it open. The brown, cubic-shaped food fills it all the way to the brim, and I hear another, not so faint grumble from Froakie's stomach. He eyes the bowl hungrily, but pries his eyes away from it to stare at me.

"Thanks, uh…" once again, he raises a hand to rub the back of his head. "I don't believe I got your name."

"Victor's the name," I say, gesturing towards the food with my head to signal him to go ahead and start, but don't sit down yet myself, instead walking over to the fridge. There's a bit of ham left in there, and some frozen bread, nothing the microwave can't fix. There's enough to make myself a decent sandwich, anyhow. I also grab a yoghurt and a pear from a fruit bowl next to the fridge before shutting the door.

It takes only a minute to heat the bread to a usable temperature, and half a minute to make myself the aforementioned sandwich. I sit on a chair across from Froakie, who's actually on the table, so it's a bit weird, but I think I can get used to eating at a table where other things are sitting. He's already started eating, or, rather, devouring, the Pokéblocks. If the Oran Berry earlier had any effect on his appetite, it isn't showing right now. The meal doesn't go by in perfect silence, however.

"So, uh, if I may…" I mutter, to get his attention. He looks up from his food with what only looks like mild annoyance on his face at being distracted from his long-awaited meal. "How come you were in Lake Verity for so long?" I ask, only now realizing how much of a stretch it is to assume that he was the thing that I felt last week. His expression changes more to curiosity.

"To be honest, I didn't know that it had a name. I just liked the water and decided to stay there, is the short answer. And before you ask, no, I don't know how I was born in a region where there are no others of my kind in the wild." I don't believe he's been asked before, but it's the obvious follow-up question, and he seems aware of it.

I wait for him to place another Pokéblock in his mouth, and even though it's actually three that he grabs, I take the time he spends chewing to formulate and enunciate my next inquiry.

"And up until now, you'd just been gathering a few berries and little more, living by yourself?"

To my surprise, he shakes his head, then, with what looks like a grin (I'm going to have to learn how to identify them); he brings his hands up to his head and holds it.

"Not alone, the Psyduck were there too, and very, uh, helpful. I got some food from them and learnt a few things from their conversations. The truth is I've only got memory from a few weeks ago anyway, so that's when I was born. I did recognize you from earlier, though, when I saw you there today."

He explains the part of how he survived a little hastily, and it looks like he might want to add something to that, but before I can pursue the matter, he decides it's his turn to ask the questions. We've both got a bit of food left, though I've finished my sandwich, so we may as well fill up the time on the table with that.

"So…correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I've learnt about people like you. You're a Pokémon Trainer, which means you capture Pokémon like me inside those capsules…no, wait, Pokéballs, and you go on a journey all around the region, strengthening both yourself and your companions, while providing care for them?"

Those Psyducks must've gotten a hold of one of my textbooks, because the explanation is pretty much spot on. I twirl the pear around, holding it at the top between two fingers and nod.

"That's all true. Not having seconds thoughts, are you?"

"None yet, of course, all of this" he looks around, making it clear what he's referring to, "is better than the Lake. I miss the water, but I'm sure that seeing to that is part of your job. And I haven't mentioned it, but these are delicious!" He lowers his head again to begin to finish up with his meal, and it's just as well that he likes it, because he's probably going to be running on those for a long time.

His comment about the water's perfect, too, as it gives me a good lead-in to confirm his claim. "You got it, you can take a bath upstairs, and I have something that'll make sure you come out of it extra clean."

He doesn't seem distrustful of that claim. In fact, if there's one thing I've noticed often in this Froakie, it is curiosity, and it's there again when I mention the bath. There's also a pinch of eagerness with it; probably to see for himself how it works.

That motivates him to finish the remaining Pokéblocks in record time, but ultimately he waits patiently anyhow for me to have the entirety of the yoghurt. Once I'm finished and stand up, I have just enough time to throw away the banana peel along with the remains of the yoghurt and put away the bowl before he's leapt back onto my shoulder soundlessly.

Much to his unmanifested disappointment, I have to walk back to the door to pick up the bottle from there, but afterwards, it's a steady walk up the stairs and to the bathroom where I normally take all my showers. The shower is in the bathtub itself, though, so it can be used for that purpose. I turn my head to the right and see his expression; for now, he seems thoroughly unimpressed.

I grab a towel and spread it on the floor right outside the tub so that he doesn't soak the tiles when he gets out, then plug the drain in the bathtub so that I can begin to fill it up with tepid water. Froakie watches the water emerge in an almost disbelieving manner. He points to the plug.

"I'm guessing I pull that out when I am done?"

There's no reason why he should've thought that. Heck, when I was little, I often left the plug placed in the drain thinking that that way I wouldn't have to waste time filling up the tub next time I took a bath; no matter how many times Mom corrected me. It might be because he saw it wasn't on in the first place when we came in. He's quite observant.

"Yeah, exactly." I smile over my shoulder at him, and we watch the water level slowly rise in silence. I get the idea that while he's in here I should look up more in-depth information on Froakies and how to raise one. I know that he's only a few weeks old, another piece of pertinent information could be…

"Have you ever battled before?"

"Not really."

And that's all he has to say on that subject. It doesn't help to make me feel more confident about later, but at that moment the bath is finally full, so I cut off the flow of water and squeeze the contents of the plastic bottle into it, emptying around ten percent of it already before leaving it next to the sink. Froakie hops off my shoulder and I instinctively raise my hands to cover myself from the splash he'll no doubt cause, but instead, he deftly leaps to the edge of the tub and from there slips into the water without disturbing it at all.

Letting out a happy exclamation, the Pokémon dives under, causing dirt and filth to wash off him and to the surface. He emerges with another odd smile of his.

"Well, it's no Lake…Verity, was it? But I think I'll enjoy it greatly. Thanks, Victor."

"No problem." I grin back and turn to exit the bathroom and give him some privacy, but the moment I'm about to step out the door, he gets my attention again.

"Oh, by the way." I look over my shoulder and see him not even looking at me, just up at the ceiling as if in thought. "I've decided. You can call me Sheng."

* * *

I leave the door open a tad so he can slip out after he's done without me having to go back there to get him out, then head downstairs to do some research on his species on my laptop. We've still got forty-five minutes until Lisa wanted to meet back up, so there's plenty of time for him to enjoy the bath and for me to know his strengths and weaknesses.

Firstly, it would seem that most Froakies are naturally quick Pokémon, and from the looks of it, Sheng is not exception to that. Apparently, with only very little fighting experience most Froakies are capable of using the attack Bubble, but seeing as how Sheng is still young and he's had none, he's probably not at that level yet. That means he'd be mainly limited to striking his opponent with Pound, but he's not completely without defensive options, it seems. The bubbles on a Froakie's back, it would seem, are not only flexible and smooth, but they're more resilient than they look and can cushion blows very well, even if they don't look the part. Lastly, they evolve once they reach a certain level of strength in almost every single case.

I switch off the computer just in time for something to jump onto my head from behind the couch. I can't help but chuckle and reach up to pat Sheng's bubbles, also trying to get a feel of their texture. I find them to be flexible and soft, yes, but not as tough as I'd been hoping. It could cushion a fall wonderfully, sure, but not a really hard hit. Still unused or not liking it, however, he quickly jumps back down onto the floor.

"Feeling better now?" I inquire, pushing myself up from the sofa and heading to the door to grab Sheng's Pokéball again.

"Yes, thank you." He doesn't ask where we're going, or what exactly we're going to do. Overall, he seems pretty accepting of being my Pokémon, and it makes me feel bad that I pretty much force him to follow me around and such just in exchange for food and shelter. But, hey, if he's content with the agreement, I shouldn't complain. I consider taking the backpack as well, but there's nothing in it that I could use, as I don't intend to capture another Pokémon. That is, until I remember the Oran Berry. Perhaps I could give it to Sheng as a treat if he wins a fight, and show Lisa that I know what I'm doing. Well, I don't, not really.

I lean down and pick up the dark blue pack anyway, to be on the safe side, and leave the Pokéball in the main space. Sheng decides that instead of riding on my shoulder, he might as well help me get used to carrying a bag that actually weighs something and leaps onto it, facing backwards as if to be able to tell if anyone's following us.

I think we reach the Pokémon Center no sooner and no later than we'd agreed, but it still takes two minutes for Lisa to show up, and she does so at a steady jog.

"Sorry I'm late!" She pants out, placing her gloved hands on her knees. "I… got caught up watching a video Sarah sent me of how that kid from Jubilife is doing. I'm actually kind of jealous of you two. He got a Riolu as his starter and it's just so _cute_."

I hear an irritated sigh behind me, and Sheng's got a point. I'm starting to think Lisa would call a Feebas adorable.

"So what do you two say we head on over to Route 202 and have you win your first encounter?" The suggestion is a cheery one which makes it difficult to even consider denying.

"Alright, but on one condition." I state, and this causes Lisa to place her hands on her hips.

"What's that?"

"We walk there _normally._" I declare. She fakes a pout.

"Aww, but I think that the disheveled look was starting settle in nicely on you." Shaking her head, she shrugs. "Fine, whatever. Let's get going, shall we?"

* * *

We reach the exit of Sandgem Town quickly and in silence, but there's still something that's bothering me about the idea of a Journey. In a way, I suppose it's the enormity of the Sinnoh Region.

"What would you do in my position?" I ask my guide, out of the blue, and she seems to be caught off guard by the question.

"What do you mean?" There's a raised eyebrow from her as we walk, and I hear Sheng shuffling around on top of the pack to face forward and get an idea of how the landscape is. After all, he's probably never been here before.

"I mean, like, where would you go? Once I actually get the courage to leave Sandgem for good and reach Jubilife, should I head towards Floaroma or Oreburgh? What do I do along the way?"

She falls silent and furrows her brow in concentration, staring at the ground. Eventually, she looks up and sighs in mild exasperation.

"You don't have to rush your Journey, Victor. It's a very common mistake that leaves a bunch of rookie trainers overwhelmed. There's a reason why most of the best Journeys take so many years." She raises her eyebrows and stares directly at me to make sure I understand what she means, and doesn't continue until I nod in a genuine fashion. "But, to answer your question. I think you should take advantage of the fact that you've got the aid of more experienced Trainers at your disposal. Once you reach Jubilife, give any of us a call, for example, and ask what kinds of Pokémon you can find in Route 203 as opposed to 204, if you'd be interested in adding another member to your party. Obviously, we can't be aware of…" she stares over my shoulder and bites her lower lip. "Irregularities, like you finding a Froakie in Lake Verity, but we might be able to remember the native species, and Clyde and Gemma know for sure."

"You've got a point…" I concede, and she smirks in a 'damn-right-I-do' sort of way. She faces forward again and keeps leading the way, only adding "We're nearly there."

"You feeling confident about this?" I ask the Pokémon behind me, speaking lower like he said he wanted to.

"Somewhat." He replies, without much thought to it. "I've got a small grudge against Starly, anyhow. Their chirping is nice for a while, but it gets tiresome." I chuckle; he's also got a point. Especially since they love flocking together, it gets more irksome, more quickly.

We trudge up a small hill, and in the silence that ensues from me and Lisa not saying anything at all to conserve as much energy as possible, Sheng speaks up again, and his tone of preoccupation nearly makes me stumble.

"If I lose…are you going to leave me back at the lake again?"

Where'd all that confidence go all of a sudden? A little part of me feels offended that he thinks I'd do that, but he actually few reasons to trust me already when we only officially met a few hours ago.

I tap my shoulder to indicate for him to stand there for a second. He obliges and comes back into my field of view. Once we're at the top, I turn my head to face him and stare the Pokémon dead in the eyes.

"Of course not. We agreed to be partners, remember? I don't expect you to win every single battle, and it can be my fault every bit as much as it can be yours. Be that as it may, this is one fight I'm certain you can win."

I see Lisa slows down, trying to appear inconspicuous as she listens in on what I'm saying, and I notice the corner of her mouth creeps upwards in a smile. I've probably either said the right thing or made a fool out of myself, but I said what I think in complete honesty.

Sheng smiles and seems to settle down, choosing to remain on my shoulder rather than return to the pack. It's settled his doubts, but apparently, only temporarily, judging from what he says next.

"Let me know if that ever changes."

Our conversation is put to an abrupt end by an exclamation from Lisa, who's pointing at something a few feet in front of us. A Starly, indeed, just standing there in the middle of our path with its eyes fixed on us.

"That Starly is looking at you funny! That means it either hates your guts or wants to prove its strength and maybe join your team! You know what that means?"

People have been looking funny at me my entire life; it's no wonder that Pokémon are no exception. Either way, what Lisa means is clear. I nod and pat the Sheng on his bubbly back to indicate him to go forward. With an enthusiastic jump he leaps to the floor and faces off against the avian Pokémon. Lisa steps back and crosses her arms, now, all she has to do is observe. So begins my first Pokémon Battle.

It starts out peacefully, bringing to mind the expression 'calm before the storm'. On a hilltop after lunch, a sunny day with a few fluffy clouds that are reminiscent of Sheng's bubbles and the wings of an Altaria like Lisa's drifting lazily across the sky. Another moment I commit to memory. Time seems to cease advancing for a moment, everything is still.

Then, with a challenging squawk, the bird Pokémon spreads its wings and launches itself into the air, disturbing the grass of the battleground and putting Sheng on guard as I notice his legs tighten up, ready to leap at his opponent or out of the way as he sees fit…or I command, I've got to remember that we're both in this together.

As it is right now, there's not a lot I can do to help him, though, his natural reflexes are good enough to know when to dodge the Starly's attempts to hit him, although that leaves Sheng unable to counterattack in most cases, as the Starly is swift, itself. He seems to have more of an evasive fighting style, and I'll have to work with it while we're fighting together.

After it takes to the sky, it's already circling above the field and swooping down every so often to try and Scratch Sheng on the top of his head. It misses a few times, but by the seventh time it tries, things aren't looking good for us, as Froakie already has a few nasty looking marks on it while he's yet to land a Pound on Starly, though not for lack of trying, his breathing is already heavier than before from futilely swiping at the air as his opponent passes by.

Seeing that its working, the avian Pokémon emits a taunting chirp and dives down again, headed straight towards Sheng's back. The last time it tried this, he turned around and got the bird's talons in his face for it, and he probably hasn't learnt from his mistake, because his body begins to turn. Though that reminds me…

"Don't turn around, just brace yourself!" I cry. Sheng freezes in spot and I can imagine him closing his large eyes in anticipation of the pain.

Seeing it as easy prey, no doubt, the Starly tries to land another vicious Scratch across his back, but instead cries out in surprise when he find that he landed the move on the bubbly section of Sheng's back, which shields him from the blow and causes the bird to waste time trying to break his talons free of it. I think it's enough time.

"Now! Turn around while using Pound!" I exclaim.

With an affirmative 'Fro!', he raises his left arm and whirls around, slapping the Starly off him and onto the ground, and the rest of his body follows the motion and faces his opponent, now within easy reach and on the floor, probably recovering from the smack to the head.

He takes the opportunity, and, jumping up at least two feet, Sheng raises his hand again and shoves it downwards as he descends from the jump, landing a hit square on the Starly's chest, but, at the same time, the wild Pokémon panics and kicks its talons blindly, screeching out in pain. It manages to rend a few spots on the unprotected section of the frog Pokémon's chest, and get it off itself, so it manages to get up and hop a short distance away, wheezing out tiredly and lacking the energy to fly again.

The fight's on the ground now, which leaves us at a clear advantage. Starly tries to Growl intimidatingly, but the sounds that come from its hurting chest make me feel pity more than anything else. In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to win, it runs forward and hops when it is a short distance away from Sheng hoping to land an aerial Scratch across his eyes. Now, his natural speed comes in handy, and he hops back at the last moment, wincing in pain as the cuts on his chest make their presence felt. Noting that the Starly has to recover from its lunge, he cries out as he dashes forth one more time and crashes his palm right between the eyes of the wild Pokémon.

Starly squawks out again and takes a stumbling step backward from the force of the blow, shaking all over. It takes another retreating step, then its feet finally falter and it falls on its side, fainted. Unconscious, but not dead, thank goodness.

It took until then for me to realize I'd been holding my breath, and it's all released in a sigh of relief when Sheng remains steady on his feet after his opponent goes down, making him…us, the winners. I rush to his side and kneel down beside him, both to inspect the scratches on him and to congratulate him more closely. None of them look too bad right now, with only one of the marks on his chest, which heaves heavily with his breathing, dripping a little blood. I shrug off my pack and once again pat his bubbly backside. After the rough combat, though, he's got a smile on his face.

"Nice going, pal! Here…" I open and dig my hand into the pocket specialized for holding Berries, and bring out the other Oran Berry that I found along with Sheng, then hand it to him.

Beaming even more, he accepts it in both of his smaller hands and takes a deep bite out of it. He gulps it down. "Thank you. I don't think I'm ready to fight again yet, though," he says, apologetically, and then nibbles on the blue-colored berry again.

I hear movement behind me, and turn my head to see Lisa sauntering in our direction. Crouching down next to me, she brushes a few stray black hairs out of her face and holds something up for me to see. I'd recognize the familiar spray-type medicine anywhere; a Potion.

"An Oran Berry does a little to aid a Pokémon's natural recovery from minor wounds," she begins to explain as her eyes dance all over Sheng's body to find every scratch-mark, "but a Potion closes them instantly. He'll be back to full health soon, but tired nonetheless, so you should give him a break." When she's satisfied, she quickly sprays the contents of the Potion onto his body, and, before my eyes, the marks disappear and it's like he'd never been hurt at all.

We stand up, and Lisa suggests taking a walk, which also helps me get into better shape, and having maybe another battle before returning to Sandgem. She assures me that the Starly will be fine, probably will be found soon by another member of its species that may aid it and 'that's how couples are made!'.

Clambering back up to join me on my shoulder is Sheng, and, for the first time, I believe, I hear him chuckle to himself, and clearly, he revels in the feeling of victory.

"You know what? I could get used to this."

* * *

It's a nice walk we have in Route 202, mercifully free of any wild leaps down ledges on a Dodrio this time. We don't talk much along the way, though I learn that, at least in Jubilife City, they sell belts to hold your Pokéballs in the Poké Marts, and it's actually weird to her that they weren't included with the other supplies we got. Lisa points out places that would be good to pause in at night if it came to it and what types of berries would be best to eat if I found myself out of food, though she insists that she's no Pokémon Ranger.

There's another, simpler fight against a Bidoof as well, and it's won without much worries about Sheng's wellbeing, though Lisa makes a point out of telling me that I need to work on relaxing during battles, or I won't be able to give out the best orders when the time comes. Unfortunately, she can't show me what she means, "not yet", according to her, and we head back at a brisk pace while I digest the advice.

By the time we reach the Pokémon Center, the sun is sinking in the west, and I'm beat from the walking, climbing, and strolling we've done over the last few hours, and I can't imagine how tired Sheng must be. On the other hand, Lisa appears to be completely unfazed.

"Wait here," she commands me when we're passing right by the Pokémon Center, and once again she rushes into it, coming back out in a minute and a half and fully equipped. A backpack, identical to mine in a sandy orange color, hangs behind her, and it looks considerably fuller than mine. In her hands are three more of the blue plastic bags that contain Pokéblocks, and she hands them to me.

"Those are all I could spare, I'm afraid, any more and Polly would have my head for not feeding her enough later." She half-smiles in resignation.

I reach out and take the bags, before I even realize what she really means or note the tone that she's using, the kind that you use when you're bidding someone farewell. Sheng, however, does seem to notice, and he hops onto the ground between me and the Ace Trainer.

Lisa giggles, and now that I'm starting to realize that she'll be going briefly, I actually hang on to the sound of it, because I don't know when I'll hear it again, and she leans down to stroke his head a few times. Shockingly, he doesn't resist, and seems to enjoy it somewhat, despite the thick mitts of the girl.

She straightens back up, heaving a sigh, then smiles as she steps around Sheng to get to me.

"Well, I've taught you most things you need to know to be able to start out your Journey seamlessly. You don't necessary have natural skill as a Trainer, I'll admit, but anyone can form synergy with their Pokémon and you and…" she takes a second to recall, "Sheng are on the right path. Give me a call anytime, remember to loosen up during battles, and…" she leans in further and plants a solid peck on my cheek right there. I flush a deep Cheri Berry red and almost miss the end of her sentence. "Keep up the good work." Behind her, Sheng covers his mouth with a hand and snickers.

Lisa brushes off her red clothes and steps back, reaching for her belt to draw the same Ultra Ball from this morning from it. She clicks it and sends out Polly, the Altaria within. She spreads her cottony wings, glad to be set free once more, and hums loudly to the skies. When she notices the Frog Pokémon at her feet, she hums again, this time, sounding more challenging and almost mocking. Sheng frown and croaks something back before getting out of the way and onto me just in time for Lisa to get on her Pokémon's back. I see that the orange bag is on the ground (she must really hate wearing it), and the Altaria grips it with its feet, effortlessly beginning to flap and ascend. It can almost be confused with the sky, with its cerulean color and cloud-like body.

Then, for some reason, I hear it cry out loudly, and it soars away from Sandgem Town, heading north, needlessly fast, taking Lisa to a different destination. I stare after it until I lose sight of the pair, or I intend to, but something else takes my immediate attention.

Sheng suddenly kicks off me, eliciting a surprised "Hey!" from me. I remain confused for an instant, and with a small pain in my shoulder where the surprisingly powerful pairs of legs just impulse themselves, but when he turns around, I notice he's got another blue bag of food in his mouth. Our eyes meet, and we both break into a fit of giggles when we realize what happened up in the air and why Polly was so disgruntled.

After stuffing it in my bag, along with the rest of them, we, or rather, I, indolently walk towards the general direction of Sandgem Beach. Dinner at the Sanders' place is in order, and it'll make Sheng regret he was ever persuaded to join because of that scent, I'm sure.

"Hey, Victor?" He says, suddenly.

"What is it?"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't, but when someone else joins our merry little company and it's time to distribute the food, just remember who was here first."


	5. Two Paths

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I've no idea why it took me so long to write this chapter, but I guess it's partly due to what happened these last few days. Namely, Happy 2015 to all my readers, present and future, and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Do leave a review if you feel it necessary to, or want to see me on the business end of a rifle.

* * *

Fortunately for Mr. Sanders and I, the inclusion of Sheng at the dinner table meant that we only had to eat one cheeseburger each, while Mrs. Sanders and the Pokémon each had one half of the same. After we were done eating, she continued doing her best to fill her role as my guardian by forcing me to tell her everything I was planning to take when I finally left Sandgem Town, and she ominously, to me, at least, dropped a comment that she'll have a lot of food ready for when I decide to go, so I can take a bit of Sandgem with me on the first few days. The worrisome part is that, if Mrs. Sanders calls something 'a lot of food' I'm not sure if my bag can carry all of that.

That night, it doesn't take me very long at all to fall asleep, and I'm sure the same goes for Sheng, but I can't know for certain, since, even though he was in the same room as me, sleeping on top of a mound of clothes, he either tried to sleep with one eye open out of habit, or he's just as quiet a sleeper as he is the rest of the time. Luckily, I don't have any dreams that night, or none that I can remember in the morning.

The following morning, I'm rather surprised to be awoken by a light, continuous tapping on my window. In my groggy state, it takes me a couple seconds to recognize the sound of what must be a weak autumn drizzle. We don't get a lot of rain in Sandgem Town, as you might imagine. In fact, it must be at least two months since it last happened. Those who enjoy the rain, for whatever reason, should look into the marsh areas around Pastoria City.

I nearly fall back asleep listening to the steady dripping noise, so, as silently as I can, I slip out of the room. Along the way, I grab the note I wrote down yesterday for Maria and my phone, thinking that I could give her a call now. And didn't I promise Kyle I would once I got the results of the test? I don't hear myself making any sound, so I think that I'd have made the other occupant of the room proud had he been awake. As I leave, I take a look at Sheng, lying with his head on top of his hands and on his stomach on top of a crumpled up red jacket, his small, yet surprisingly powerful body slowly heaving up and down, and it's impossible for me to fight back a smile. I don't know when exactly I want to leave Sandgem, but I owe him another good night's sleep here at home before we're on the road. It'll only be a day or so to Jubilife if we go real slowly, and we can spend that night at the Pokémon Center, but after that…well, no promises.

Speaking of when I should leave, my initial decision is tomorrow. Give Mrs. Sanders time to cook all that food that she looked so enthusiastic to prepare, train a bit more, despite the rain, and, heck, I've got to get myself in the right mindset for leaving home, as well. Just because I don't have Mom to take care of doesn't mean I don't have anything for me here anymore.

I'm starting to miss Sandgem Town before I even leave it, just great. In my defense, that's probably what you get after living in the same small place for sixteen years. It probably wasn't so bad for Kyle when he left, and Maria's parents moved away shortly after she went on her Journey.

To take my mind off things, I head straight to the kitchen, where I dumped all four bags of Pokémon food last night before going upstairs on top of the table, grab the same bowl from the other day and fill it up with the contents of half a bag, leaving the other half for later. If I'm thinking this through correctly, he can't possibly be too hungry after last night, and besides, it's only breakfast, not a full meal. I leave the half-full bowl on top of the table beside the other three bags and the partly empty one, then go about preparing myself a glass of milk with some cookies to go along with it.

Since I both can and it's more comfortable, I take the glass and the cookies to the living room and set them down on the coffee table, plopping down on the sofa in front of it with a sigh. I leave the paper next to the drink and take out my phone, dialing Maria's number first. On the fourth ring, she picks up. That's not a good sign, and I gulp. I've committed a terrible mistake.

"Oh, good _morning_, Victor, my _friend._ Do you know what time it is?" Comes the voice of Maria…or not quite. It's far, far too calm and sweet, not to mention how dripping with irritation it is. Additionally, she's speaking in a whisper, which means she's probably not alone. Subconsciously, I match her tone.

I don't have enough time to brace myself, and, deliberately slow, I look at my Pokétch. Even the Pikachu on it seems to be staring at me in a 'you messed up, bad' kind of way.

"Uh, yeah, it's…" I begin, and am instantly cut off by the voice on the other side, suddenly much more vicious.

"I don't give a crap what time it is, buddy. You woke me up, and what's worse, I think Lennie's stirring now, too…" She sighs heavily into the speaker, but, to be on the safe side, I remain silent until she speaks up again. "Anyway, you're not enough of a jerk to call just to wake me up early, so I assume you have another reason to. Spit it out."

This was definitely a bad time to call, and all of a sudden, I feel silly for disturbing her just to talk about some stupid dream.

"It's just, um, remember that dream…? The one that we both used to have?" Silence for a while, then a derisive snort.

"Man, I haven't had that in a while. What's the matter, had a bad dream and you want Auntie Maria to tell you that everything is alright?" I can almost imagine her sarcastic grin on the other end, if I knew what her surroundings were like.

"If I needed consolation, you can rest assured that you're the last person I'd turn to," I inform her, smiling to myself.

"Good," she replies, matter-of-factly. "Because sometimes I hate life enough that listening to other people's problems only makes me want to yell at them."

Sometimes I wonder how we're friends.

"That doesn't sound like you at all," I mutter sarcastically, and she chuckles once. "So, what I was saying?" I take her silence as a sign to go ahead, and I explain to her, in full awkward detail, or as much as I can using my limited memory and brief notes, the events of my dream the other night.

By the time I'm done, she must've lost her morning grumpiness, and toward the end of the retelling she even grunts and mutters 'Mhm' occasionally. At least, the interest doesn't sound feigned to me.

I pause when I finish, then, expectantly; I ask her "So what do you think?"

For a while, she doesn't reply, probably looking for the gentle way to break it to me that I'm an idiot, as uncharacteristic that would be of her.

"I'm sorry, Victor, but I honestly think it's just a dream, nothing more. It's cool that we have the same one and all, and rad that it ends in death, but I really don't think it means anything. If it were something that'd been bothering me all these years, I'd thank you tearfully for putting my doubts to rest. But as it is, all you've done is spoil the plot for me…" she suddenly pauses, and there's some rustling on the other side. She returns, speaking in a more urgent tone. "I'm sorry, but everyone's starting to get up and I've got to tend to them. Will that be all?"

I haven't even told her that I'm a Trainer yet, but the way I see it, that surprise can wait until I'm a decent one.

"Yeah, it is." More silence. "Thanks for list-"

"No prob. Got to go, cya."

And with that, she hangs up. All in all, that could've turned out a lot worse for me, and there could have been a lot more screaming on her part, so I'm grateful, in a sense. I look over my shoulder at the entrance to the kitchen, through which I can see the table. The bowl's still there; no Sheng. I decide to reward my valor in the conversation with Maria with some breakfast.

Something about having milk and cookies in the morning while it's raining lightly outside and you're just sitting there on the couch with no pressing responsibilities is really soothing, and I suggest you try it sometime. I find myself eating breakfast with a smile and feeling the energy I'll need for the rest of today course through me.

After that, I finally make good on my promise and dial Kyle's number. Unlike my other friend, he picks up almost immediately.

"Shocker seeing you up this early," I say as a manner of greeting him. He must be in a good mood, because he responds with a chuckle.

"You're right; I'm not sure what's become of me. When you have Pokémon of your own, you'll understand." He pauses, yawining widely into the speaker, and then exclaims "Oh! How'd the test-thingy go? Didya get your results yet!?"

The idea of not telling him or lying to toy around with Kyle crosses my mind, but he's done nothing to deserve it these past few months, atypically.

"Yeah, I got them yesterday." I hear him suck in, then hold, his breath. "It looks like I'm a Pokémon Trainer now," I confess.

The breath he'd been holding in comes out in a very loud "WOOOOOO!" from my neighbor, and if I wasn't yet completely awake, I am now, and more than a little befuddled. He sounds almost more content than I did when I found out. Then again I was baffled more than anything else at first.

"That's great! Although I already feel sorry for any Pokémon that gets you as their trainer. Spend an hour talking to you and one begins to see the world in black and grey." He's joking, I know, but the taunt works nonetheless, and so begins another 'argument' like many we had as children.

"Funny to hear you say that, you could talk for an hour and the smartest thing you'd say would be 'okay, I'll shut up now'!"

"Oh, really? I guess you would be a good listener, with those enormous ears of yours; the envy of all Donphan!"

"I'd still be the winner in a beauty contest between you, me, and a Feebass, who'd be in second!" A classic, timeless schoolyard insult.

The exchanges continue back and forth for another minute, rapidly degenerating in maturity, from a playground level all the way to daycare. I finally admit defeat when Kyle calls me a 'stupid jerk', as I can't come up with anything less insulting that quickly. By the end of it, though, I'm smiling, like I had been with Maria, and there's no doubt he is, too.

"Ah…well, Victor, thanks for the call. I should get going now, though, but I'll talk to you soon."

"Yeah. See ya." This time, I hang up.

I lean forward with the intention of picking up the empty glass on the coffee table that I'd had my milk in, but instead throw my hands up in and cry out in surprise when I hear a voice coming from behind me. One second later and I'd have flung the glass aside in panic.

"Wow. Remind me not to get on your bad side." Sheng's crouching on top of the backrest of the couch, looking straight at me with something of a smile.

I grin back to him and this time, manage to pick up the glass without incident.

"Good morning, Sheng. How'd you sleep?" I walk over to the kitchen to leave it there, and along the way notice that the bowl of Pokéblocks is empty, so I leave that in the sink as well.

"Pretty well, thank you. In fact, I…" He stops talking from his position on the couch and squints his eyes at something to his right.

"You what?" I press, and his head turns back to me. He raises a hand and points a finger to his right, where I just remembered there's a window.

"That's…rain, isn't it? The Psyducks always said that the wished it would rain when they looked at the sky, and that they wanted more humidity, but I wasn't sure what they meant."

I walk over to join him by the couch and pat his back once. "Yeah, that's it."

He nods absently, the skips his way over to a table right next to the window so he can see the droplets of water fall from closer up. I'm halfway up the stairs when he speaks.

"What are we going to do today?" He asks.

"I don't know. I'll find something," I assure him. He continues to gaze out the glass.

* * *

I sort out my morning routine after that. A relaxing warm shower in contrast to the chilly drizzle outside and a change of clothes later, and I'm back downstairs with my promise to Sheng still unsolved. I actually don't believe I'd mind going outside with the rain, but years of being accustomed to not do so are really not making me feel like it at all.

We spend most of the day indoors, then, until he finally convinces me to go outside an hour or so after lunch to at least take a walk or go someplace. For lack of anything better to do, I agree, and after I pick up my umbrella and keys, we set off. He's out the door the moment it's open enough for him to bound past it and onto the wet ground outside. Sheng sniffs the air and exhales contentedly while I lock the door behind me.

"Smells rather nice, don't you think?" He remarks as we begin walking instinctively toward Route 201. Today, he doesn't bother hopping onto my shoulder and instead sticks to the ground in front of me, unprotected from the rain and seemingly loving it. I'd say that he's got a little spring in his step, but since he's always leaping to get around anyhow, that's a given. Still, it feels like he bounces just a little higher and more enthusiastically.

As we reach the crossroads that lead on one side toward Twinleaf Town and on the other to Lake Verity, he finally pauses to wait for me to catch up, but soon regains his lead once he sees we're heading to Twinleaf today. As per the usual, he doesn't really initiate any conversation himself along the way, so it's up to me to say anything if I want us to get any closer.

"When do you think would be a good time to finally set off?"

He slows his pace, pondering the response, but not for long. "Whenever you feel ready. I'm not leaving anything behind."

"Are you sure?" I press, "It wouldn't bother you just a little to be always on the move and battling more often?"

He shakes his head and turns it momentarily to give me a confident smirk. "I think we'll manage just fine." Even his tone is secure, and it serves to calm down my insecurities for the time.

"Understood…thanks."

* * *

We eventually reach the outskirts of Twinleaf. Nearby I can see the quaint little houses and the rolling grass fields of the Town, but we don't need to get that close for the eternal smell of fresh leaves and calming breeze to blow through the air and make us both take a moment to stop and reflect.

When the wind finally calms down and we come back to our senses, I notice that nothing's changed, except for the Clefairy staring at us. I've no idea where it came from, I suppose it must be someone in Twinleaf's or something of the sort. Whatever the case, it's a relatively rare Pokémon, and I'm surprised to see it there.

Slowly, the Pokémon walks closer to us, more to Sheng than to me, and though he doesn't yet step back, he's put on that wary expression I know so well and he seems ready to jump away at any time. However, it proves not to be necessary when the other thing the other Pokémon does is let out a high-pitched exclamation, which makes me believe it's a female. Sheng laughs and say something back to it that I can't understand, so I can imagine they get on well. He then adds something and the Clefairy shyly hangs her head and creeps over to where I am. I raise an eyebrow and look at Sheng for an explanation, who simply points a finger at the sky. Of course, the rain.

It's at that moment, in the middle of the slight discord caused by the interrupted walk that Sheng has an idea. He approaches me then.

"I'd though that you might want to take a break right now, maybe keep an eye on our new friend." He eyes the Clefairy suspiciously, then looks back to me. "And in the meanwhile I imagined that I could go pick some Berries around here, I've seen a few and they might be useful?"

"Couldn't you ask her if she's got a Trainer of anyone waiting on her?" I suggest, and it seems like he hadn't considered that yet.

After doing so quickly, we learn that she was just playing with a few of the local kids, but once it started raining their mothers made them go indoors and now she was just waiting out the rain. It sounds harmless to keep the Pokémon company and whatever Sheng may gather really could be handy, so I accept to have a fifteen minute break, and off he bounds into the forest. It just occurs to me that I don't have his Pokéball with me, so if he wanted to run away, this was the perfect ocassion.

I find a spot by a tree to sit on. Damp, but comfortable, and there's a nice sight of Twinleaf Town at the end of the road which is now quite a ways to our right as we'd veered off the path. The Clefairy doesn't leave my side, clinging onto the leg of my pants, but with a smile.

She doesn't make a noise for the entirety of ten minutes, and by the seventh I've already forgotten that she's even there at all. I'm only reminded of her presence when I hear a curious sound from my right. I turn my head to see what she's doing, and am surprised to see her large ears twitching up and down, in a sort of rhythm, at first. Twice really quickly, then once slowly.

The sounds she makes are scared, at first, and a good minute passes where she just seems to be getting more and more afraid of whatever she's noticing. Ultimately, the sounds turn into more curious 'Cle's, and I'm beginning to be able to ignore it and just keep chilling when I hear a final, affirmative sounding 'Fairy'! I take a look at her, and it looks like her ears aren't going to stop moving anytime soon, but now the pattern's erratic, shaking a lot one second and then going still for a few random ones more.

I can't see very much more than that, or at least in detail, as the Pokémon turns her body completely toward me, smiling widely, and with a wild cry she raises her hand and pounces toward me, in what looks like an attempt to pound me in the face. Instead, I feel a considerable amount of pain shoot up my right arm from the impact with the suddenly-aggressive Pokémon, and I grunt as I stand up as quickly as I can, which is too much, as it leaves my head spinning while I move away from the tree.

"What the hell?" I ask nobody in particular. The rain hitting me suddenly now I've stepped out of the cover of the branches makes me aware of the closed umbrella in my right hand. I don't like having to do it, but the Clefairy continues to twitch its ears and she turns to me again. I can't tell what, if anything came over her, but she does come over to me, lifting both of her hands up while she runs. They absorb some sort of white-glowing energy, and she jumps up in the air, this time, higher than before, much, enough to be above my head and rapidly descending toward me. It lets out a war-cry, which would be funny if I'd heard it anywhere else from a Clefairy, but right now the only thing I can do is counter it with a scream of my own as I instinctively open up the umbrella to block it.

Sadly for me, it doesn't work out quite as I'd expected it. With the first slap from the Pokémon, the handle of the umbrella is wrenched from my grasp and it flies off to the side. The Clefairy had struck it so hard, it bounced back up into the air enough again to let it get a clear slap with its other glowing hand on my face, and it _hurts_.

I reel backwards as the Pokémon lands gracefully on her feet following the attack. I've got a hand over my cheek helplessly, feeling the part where I was hit flaring, and wait for the next move from the Clefairy. It comes after a few more twitches of its ears as she seems to debate whether she's sad or happy before coming to the conclusion that she's sick of me, and it jumps for me again.

I react quickly enough to sidestep the downwards smack of her hand, but I can feel how I'm slightly out of shape by the fact that I'm panting intensely already. To create some more distance between us, I jog back towards the tree. It's clearly been more than fifteen minutes, what's taking Sheng so long?

All of a sudden, there's a forceful impact on my back, and I stumble forward the last few steps, crashing facefirst into the humid bark and getting the wind knocked out of me. I struggle to keep my eyes open, and though my knees are shaky, I place a hand on the tree to try and keep myself steady. Miraculously, I have enough time to turn around and rest my back against the wood.

Looking down, I see the Clefairy a few feet away from me, for now, just standing there. She has a pained expression as she seems to fight something away by folding down her ears. She's just outside the cover of the branches, and is now once again completely soaked by the rain. Perhaps because of her state, she doesn't notice the myriad of bubbles creeping their way through the air toward her. I hardly do, myself, with my vision still blurry, until they're upon the Pokémon, and I have to stifle a shocked gasp to not give the fact away to her. The bubbles are under the rain freely, but the fact that they don't pop from it lets me know that they're stronger than they look, likely because they contain energy inside them that will be released in a small explosion once they do pop.

The spheres form a circle around the pink Pokémon, and all of a sudden, they all detonate at once, causing Clefairy to emit a shriek that drills into my ears horribly, and she feels pain all over her body, like dozens of Beedrill stings at once. Then, the branch above my head rustles loudly and something glides out of it toward the Clefairy, striking it roughly and knocking it back a few feet.

A few berries fall to the ground from Sheng's descent from the tree, and as he runs back to me from the body of the Clefairy, which seems to be dazed and disoriented, I see he's got a few of the fruits placed between his neck and the bubbles on his back, using them as a sort of sack.

His look tells me enough. I lean down and pick him up, putting him on my shoulder, then sprint to pick my umbrella up from the floor where it fell, and keep running at a steady pace until we're back on the path, and the tree line where that all occurred is far behind us, though I can still single out the tree where I'd been resting. I rest my hands on my knees and lean forwards, panting and trying to catch my breath.

"Hey…Victor, I'm sorry I took so long…you look pretty beat up. Are you going to be alright?" The Pokémon on my shoulder sounds almost as worried as he did when he thought I would abandon him if he lost, but he tries to sound like he remains cool.

I answer with a few more wheezes and exhalations, until I can finally straighten up my back normally again. "Y-yeah, I think so."

I feel some pressure in my shoulder disappear, and I realize Sheng must've been holding on tight to me without even realizing it, which finally gets a weak smirk out of me as I begin to drag my feet on the way back to Sandgem, hardly remembering to open the umbrella up, even if I'm pretty wet anyhow. It's difficult to even keep my hand up at the start, and Sheng has to carry it for me a few seconds until my heart rate finally slows down completely and I can make the trek normally.

After a particularly loud raindrop splatters onto the fabric of the umbrella above our heads, I get reminded of what happened during the fight with the Clefairy.

"Hey, Sheng? Those bubbles from earlier..." I let the unspoken question hang in the air, and I turn my head to see his expression, which turns into a sneaky grin.

"Heh, of course you noticed. Yeah, that was me. Neat trick, eh? Picked it up earlier while watching the rain and going over the battles from yesterday in my mind." He explains, rather offhandedly, and then seems to recall something important. His already large eyes seem to widen and he looks me dead in the eyes. "You couldn't understand what the Clefairy was saying, right?" He asks.

I shake my head. "No, Trainers can only understand Pokémon they've captured or otherwise developed a strong bond with, but all Pokémon can understand each other," I recite from memory. That was one of the first things I learnt about Pokémon, ever.

"Interesting…" He falls silent after that, and it takes him a while to notice that I've been staring expectantly at him to tell me why he asked in the first place to realize he trailed off. "Oh, right. It struck me as curious that she went from desperately crying out for something to 'stop' and for 'help' to saying things, I imagine directed at you, about being 'blind'. I've no clue what she was going on about, but it's fortunate that she was making such a ruckus, it let me find you easier and quicker."

"Really? That's weird…" I have no idea what happened to that Clefairy back there, honestly. It's like nothing I've ever read or heard of before, either, or so I think. She didn't seem sick, and she had friends back in Twinleaf Town…hopefully she'll snap out of it before she meets up with them again.

* * *

All in all, the intermission for lunch with the Sanders is more than welcome, though it's also kind of awkward when I have to explain how I tripped into the wall and got the bruise on my cheek. She doesn't seem entirely convinced either, but if she isn't, she doesn't act on it. My back still aches from the hit it took, as well, but my arm's fine. Ready as ever, today Mrs. Sanders had gone down to the Poké Mart to buy a bag of Pokéblocks for Sheng to eat, and we all have an enjoyable meal full of meat. It's hard to explain to Sheng which Mr. Sanders calls me 'Vic' and nobody else does without hurting his feelings.

Just as we step outside after lunch, the rain's stopped, leaving only an overcast sky above our heads, the clouds bright thanks to the sun behind them and not too thick. We should be back to the usual weather by tomorrow, I'd say, and it doesn't look like it'll rain again here soon.

Definitely, the rest of the day plan is just to chill around back home, maybe go for another walk, but nowhere near Twinleaf Town. And tomorrow, tomorrow for certain, I'll be heading for Jubilife City to officially start my Pokémon Journey.


	6. In Between

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Next chapter! This is quite a bit longer than the last. Once again, I do not own Pokémon, Nintendo and GameFreak do (right?). Submit a review if you enjoy the story, please, or if you'd enjoy it more if I was never heard from again!

* * *

The next morning, it's hard not to jump out of bed with a cheer. The only thought that's in my head, and the only one that I need, at that, is that today will be a momentous day, one that should've happened six years ago at most. I wonder if it's more exciting for me as a sixteen year old to be setting out on my journey after waiting for so long as it is for a ten year old that does so as per usual.

A fleeting look at my Pokétch reveals that the current time is eight thirty in the morning. Half an hour later than I'd intended to wake up, but if the device has an alarm, I've not found out how to use it. I sit up in bed and yawn like I'd been asleep for my entire life until now, stretching my arms and back until I hear a satisfying crack in every single one of them as joints fall back into their place neatly.

I stand up and reach to open the blinds, crossing my fingers metaphorically for there to not be rain or any kind of inconvenient environmental condition today. I part the cloth to reveal…an average day, I suppose. There are a few puffy clouds here and there, but it's otherwise sunny. A picturesque little view of the sea and Sandgem Beach, that I've grown accustomed to over the years, but I'm sure others would kill for, greets me like every morning. It's an odd thought that I won't be seeing the same sight out the window tomorrow, if everything goes according to plan. Funny, and here I never liked travelling all that much, for what little I've done.

I don't have to commit the image to memory, however, it's not like I don't know it by heart. Today, in contrast to yesterday, I spot Sheng already stirring awake, probably because I've opened the blinds this time. I smile and decide to wait for him to be up as well before heading downstairs. He tries to fight back the morning for half a minute more before sighing exasperatedly and opening his eyes slowly, nodding at me to say 'good morning' in a silent way, typical of him.

Together, we head downstairs, me perhaps a bit more groggily than him, and I feel my heart skip a beat when I think there's one more step than there actually is and I almost fall on my face. The fright wakes me up fully, is the positive way to look at it, but for a moment there I was certain that my journey was going to end before it even begun.

A part of my brain, at least, is still sleepy, and that one too gets a rude awakening when I open the fridge and see there's just enough inside to make myself breakfast today. Where's everything else, you might ask? I'd forgotten until then that I gave everything that would go bad to Mrs. Sanders so she at least could put it to good use while I'm out.

Yeah, that's right, I gave it to her yesterday at dinner, which was also when she decided to unload the mother of all meals on poor Sheng, Mr. Sanders and I as a sort of going-away dinner to me after I told her I'd be going today at lunch. If you saw their dinner table you wouldn't believe that you could fit five plates of meat, three with fried vegetables, one with Pokémon Food made specifically for Frog Pokémon and countless small bowls with snacks on it, but that woman finds a way. She told me to come by today before leaving so she could give me some more food for the road to Jubilife, and maybe a bit after, too. I'm a bit scared of that.

Unceremoniously, I dump the remaining half-bag from yesterday's breakfast onto a bowl for Sheng to have, and prepare myself the milk, happy not to have to see the horrifying sight of an empty fridge for any longer than I absolutely have to.

We have breakfast in silence, and to an outside observant, this would look like any normal morning. The truth is that I don't know about Sheng, but if he's half as excited as I am, I'd almost rather gulp the milk down in one go and be on my way as soon as possible. Only as I'm sipping up my milk at the end do I break the silence, to ensure myself that the main reason I stayed another day has been fulfilled.

"Did you sleep well again today?" I ask, not looking up from my drink in order to not be too deliberate about it.

"Yes, thank you" is his brief, yet satisfying answer, and it's just what I need to smile and drink up what's left, leaving the Pokémon downstairs while I head upstairs to shower fast and leave the bath ready for Sheng to also take a quick dip before we go. While he does that, I can rummage through the clothes I want to take or not, and then…well, then just wait.

I savor my last shower at home for a while, even if it has to be a quick one and I'll still be taking them frequently, it's the same thing I thought last night with my bed, none are ever going to be the same way as I've grown used to…and beside, it always seems like everyone else's showers are infinitely more complicated than your own.

After that, I get dressed with comfortable clothes, the likes of which are going to make up most of the weight of my backpack, and leave the bath full of water and the same thing from the bottle Lisa gave me for Sheng. I take the bottle with me, to place in the bag now once I return to my room where I moved it up last night.

I cross the door one more time, entering my familiar bedroom and smiling when I see it, for the sheer amount of memories it brings. Behind me in the hallway, coming from the bathroom, I hear a faint splash. I move to my wardrobe and begin to pull out things that aren't direct clothing that I'll need. A black-and-white square patterned scarf that I'm rather fond of despite having few occasions to wear it and a pair of mitts not unlike Lisa's, also black on top and white below, on the palm, are the first things I pull out. There's not very much more to add to my things after that, but I take swimming trunks just in case. For when I return, I make my bed again, too, so it'll be nice and neat, and close the blinds again. Standing at the doorway again, I can't help but turn back dramatically and get one last look at it. Comforting, silent… quite dark since I pulled the curtains, but I can make out everything…and I suppose I'll miss it. Hopefully Sheng'll do his best to clean up the bathroom once he's done in there.

I wait downstairs until he's done, simply enjoying my last moments home in silence and without doing much in the meantime. Eventually he bounds downstairs, looking fresh, happy, and relaxed. No words are needed for him to take his usual place on my right shoulder, and I like to think that I feel him a bit heavier since when I met him, but it has only been a couple of days.

Right, so, let me check one last time. Bag with clothes, phone, Pokéballs and Sheng's Pokéball, toothbrush and toothpaste, all the things that were already there and keys to be put in there after I lock the door? After a quick rummage, check. Looking decent before going? Eh, I'll go with check. No regrets or second thoughts? Only way to find out is usually to go ahead and do it anyway, sometimes. With that thought in mind, I open the door and lock it behind me as I walk out one more time. The world smells fresh this morning, or so it seems to me, and Sandgem's looking as bright as ever. I'm sure I'll miss it before long.

There's just one last thing left to do. I make the short walk down to the Sanders' place again, and despite the early hour, the door is open within seconds of me ringing. Mrs. Sanders is there with the most sad-yet-happy smile I've seen since Kyle left on his journey, six years ago. Man, time flies.

"Oh, Victor! Come on in, darling. I've got everything prepared, of course. How did you sleep?" She speaks hurriedly, stepping aside and ushering me in. She's already making for the kitchen by the time I'm formulating my reply.

"Yes, quite well, thank you," I answer. Following her into the adjacent room, I can already see a few sandwiches wrapped on the table, the remaining bags of Pokémon food from these last few days and then some more, and a few bottles of water, too.

I think there's almost not enough space in my bag for it all, but then again, it's larger than it looks, in my experience. After a few minutes of packing, which aren't missing in old memories of me these last few years that I should've been on a journey, her husband shows up on the doorway to the kitchen from out of seemingly nowhere. He's dressed much like the other day, and by that I mean it's a mystery to mankind whether or not there's anything under his bathrobe.

"Oh, good morning, Vic," he greets me, suppressing a yawn. "You going to be heading out now?"

"U-uh, yes, that's right, I think. Morning, Mr. Sanders," I stammer, and he grins widely in response. Just then, his wife behind me taps me on the shoulder to hand me my now-neatly-packed bag, and I can discern a watery glimmer in her eyes. This is going to be rough. Simultaneously, we both take a deep breath, but she talks first.

"Once again, honey, thanks for coming to see us before you go. I'll get the usual out of the way first; I know that's how you prefer things." Mr. Sanders steps up next to her, and trying his best to smile constantly too. "This journey you're embarking on is going to be one full of adventure, thrills, danger, and even losses, yes. But it's important for you to know that we'll always be back here at Sandgem Town with arms wide open if you feel homesick." At that point, she begins to smile more and her eyes become even more humid. "We…we've got your house key, and we'll check up often to make sure everything all right in there. You've got our number; give us a call if you need anything. And, lastly… you're looking different this morning. Younger, somehow, more full of energy. Maybe it's the Pokémon at your shoulder, alongside whom I can already see you growing, but I know you know this is going to be the start of a different life. And all I have to say is that if your mother could see you now, she'd be the happiest woman on the planet."

Her own tears begin to flow freely after that, and even though I know that she's a woman prone to crying, this time she really means it, and it makes me tear up, as well as we collide into a tight hug. I have to wipe my face clean on my sleeve lightning quick to make sure that her husband doesn't notice, but my caution is unnecessary as he's just finishing up a big, close-eyed yawn. He holds his hand out to me and we shake them firmly.

"Have a good trip out there, Vic. It can only make you better. And remember, safety first, always!"

"You got it!" I assure him, forcing a smile as he takes the force of the handshake a _little _too far. On my shoulder, Sheng raises up a hand in farewell, which makes both the adults chuckle a little, though Mrs. Sanders' is followed by a sob. I know that the longer I stay, the harder it'll be to leave, so with another forced smile, I make sure that the pack is in a comfortable position and I head for the exit.

"Take care!" The couple calls to me from the kitchen, their voices as one.

"You too!" I reply, and then I'm out the door and have it closing behind me.

The moment that it finishes is when, I suppose, I can really truly consider myself on a Journey. Or maybe when I step onto route 202. Or perhaps it's something you just can't decide like that, and it simply happens.

At any rate, it closes behind me and there's no big eruption of progress within me, so I'll have to look elsewhere for the exciting start to my Pokémon Journey, six years too late.

I don't hurry anywhere, though. Even if I'd left at noon I could probably still reach Jubilife easily enough before dinner. However, I intend to take it quite slowly on Route 202. No need to try and climb any the ledges this time or any of that stuff, just walk through the twisting path up and see what I find. If we find any wild Pokémon, I'm sure they'll be a lot easier to handle now that Sheng's learned how to use Bubble, and as for Trainers…well, I'd rather not get into a Pokémon Battle this soon, but even if we do, we've got a chance, I think.

I pass the Pokémon Center and the nearby Pokémon Mart quickly, and I consider going into both the locales just in case there's anything I missed, but I figure that Sheng's perfectly healthy right now, and if I need anything, I can surely buy it at Jubilife's many Marts, as well. I pass a few people on the street, as ever, and a few of them I know only by face, but even to those I don't, I flash a quick smile to. More often than not, the gesture is met by a raised brow and a puzzled expression, but I don't mind.

When we come to the sign that signals the official entry to Route 202, I don't pause in my stride, but it makes me smile. 'Let's get this started', I tell myself. Jubilife can even be seen in the distance from here, and I don't mean misty-horizon type distance, either. We'll be there before we know it. I ignore the matter of what comes after.

* * *

The first half hour of walking goes seamlessly, really. I stick to the path whenever possible, and the only incident is a wild Bidoof that stands in our way, possibly hoping to be caught, or maybe it just hates my guts. By the look of it, though, it's not very strong, and that's quickly proven when it runs off after two hits from Sheng.

That's not to say he's not on the receiving end of a few tackles and scratches from the local Pokémon, ranging from Rattatas to Patrats. Well, I say local, there's a few around, but their population is hardly as large as that of Bidoof, but they can survive nearly anywhere. He's feeling mostly fine by the time we come to a halt at the very border of a small ledge and sit there to eat something for lunch.

So far, traveling with Sheng has been as silent as I'd anticipated, not uncomfortably so, with a few words said every few minutes, but I can't help feeling as if this isn't the right way to reach a higher bond with him. So while I reach into one of the many pockets of the backpack to get out the bowl that he's been using ever since he first ate at my house, that I've grown slightly fond of, I decide to ask him a few casual questions.

"How's it looking to you so far?" I ask, looking out of the corner of my eye at him while I feel around inside the bag for the bag of Pokéblocks. He's just staring out over the ledge at the way we came from, and Sandgem Town is still clearly visible from here, behind a few trees due to the bending path, but observable.

"It's going well enough, I suppose! We're lucky that the larger Pokémon usually keep away from the path, though."

I nod and leave the now-filled up bowl beside him, stashing the plastic bag back in its place to be thrown out later, and extract one of the sandwiches, wrapped up in tinfoil. Smells like…bacon? I'm not going to complain, whatever it is, it's delicious, and I hope that the inside of the bag smells like it for a long time.

Just as I'm about to take my first bite of it, though, Sheng interrupts with a question of his own, and the happening is rare enough that I don't mind leaving it for a few seconds later.

"So how come it's so common for all you people to just start going on these Journeys all of a sudden? I know that apparently you're starting yours quite late, and all that stuff that Mrs. Sanders said earlier about personal growth and such…but there's got to be something you'll do in the meantime."

I do a double-take, surprised at him asking, because I figured that if he hadn't asked something so important until now, he wasn't going to ask it at all.

"Well, technically…the idea is for three of us who got good grades in a test about being Trainers to, with the help of a group called the Pokémon League Foundation," he nods, remembering the organization Lisa mentioned being a part of a few times, "are supposed to take on what's known as the Pokémon League Challenge."

I stop then and use the time to both give the Pokémon an opportunity to ask questions and to promptly take a bite out of the sandwich. Indeed, bacon, and I suspect egg and lettuce, as well, and how does that woman make such good food constantly? Even if I took the bite quickly, I still savor the soft bread and crisp meat, rolling them around a bit more than I should in my tongue before gulping it down and feeling my mouth drawn forward to have some more. I'm unable to resist, and Sheng's gotten to eat quite a few Pokéblocks of his own, but it looks like his next question is in order.

"What does this challenge consist of?" He inquires, sounding oddly suspicious about the whole thing.

"Well…" I sigh as I'm drawn temporarily away from the heavenly sandwich. "In a few cities, there are buildings known as Pokémon Gyms, where Trainers go to get stronger. There's a particular Trainer in every Gym known as a Gym Leader. Defeating the Leader will net you a badge for having done so. The idea is to collect all eight badges in cities all over the region, with each successive Gym Challenge getting more difficult, and finally, head to the Pokémon League Building, and challenge the strongest Trainers in the region."

During my ramblings, I hadn't noticed the way he was staring at me. Not incomprehensive of what I just explained, but looking towards me in a more incredulous 'You….we…are going to do that? Really?'

"I understand. So what do you get for doing that?" Ah, that must be why he was so puzzled. The question actually bothers me for a moment, for two different reasons. One, I had my mind boggled because, really, ever kid ever has wanted to take on the Pokémon League, just because it's taking on the Pokémon League, the ultimate dream! And also because he unknowingly reminded me of the grim purpose behind my outset.

"All sorts of things." I talk more quietly now, reflexively, but he doesn't seem to care or notice. "Fame, if you want it. A bunch of money, most Trainers usually back up their battles with that. A learning experience, an adventure…" I trail off and bite absently into the soft white bread, and the taste of the cuisine puts me in a slightly better mood already.

I look over at Sheng to see if he's got any further questions, and his expression looks like he does, but if that's true he decides against asking them and chooses instead to smile and eat the last of his food. I take that as an indication to focus on my own meal and give my full attention to the sandwich, apart from a quick swig of water I take from a bottle.

Once the two of us are done and everything's been packed up, we still remain fifteen more minutes on our back quietly, looking up at the the blue and the clouds and letting the food be digested a little before getting back on the path.

Those are over before I realize it, though, and though I'm a little sleepier by the time I force myself to stand up and sling the backpack back on, I'm feeling my energy completely replenished, and I'd venture to guess that Sheng's doing similarly. Unless something doesn't go according to plan, our next stop will be Jubilife Pokémon Center, in the afternoon.

* * *

Somehow, there are only four encounters that make us stop along the way to Jubilife. Two of them are Bidoofs that are dealt with summarily, and either Sheng has truly gotten stronger or just much more adept at fighting Bidoof in particular. Both victories leave him with a grin, however, so he either enjoys battling or enjoys winning.

The third encounter is pretty unusual, as far as I'm concerned, but most certain a welcome one. Only a few minutes after a small scuffle with a Starly, not even worth mentioning, as all it did was scratch Sheng lightly in the arm before it realized it was outclassed (crashed into a few Bubbles) and flew away, we spot a cheerful-looking young woman strolling down the road ahead of us, coming toward us, so heading towards Sandgem. That's weird enough, I told myself, but it was even stranger when she skipped right up to us and stopped. Despite both me and Sheng pausing as well and staring quite dryly at her, her smile didn't falter as she reached into a pocket on some sort of green apron she was wearing over her clothes and pulled out a bottle.

A familiar bottle, as it happens. It's a Potion, and she handed it to me before I could even think of refusing. Still grinning widely, the girl explained cheerfully.

"I work at the Jubilife Poké Mart, and was going to take a few items down to our store in Sandgem. My partner is carrying most of them in a truck, but I like to go down Route 202 and see if I encounter any Trainers to give a free sample to! Use it well, and make sure to visit us!"

"Uh, thank you very much, Miss," is all I had enough time to say before she just went along with nothing more to add. With the Potion still in my hand, I half-turned to watch her go, and Sheng on my shoulder stared after her as well. He knew I was just as perplexed as he was which probably made it more confusing for the both of us. That aside, I wasn't going to complain about the gift from the girl, and though I didn't think I'd need it to treat that scratch on his arm, I feel safer already just carrying it. I'd seen a few Trainers off the path so far, and one or two of them looked like they could use a hand, so I hoped she reached them quickly.

* * *

The last notable encounter was just a few minutes ago from now.

The sun was already beginning to go down, and my Pokétch showed that it was quarter-to-six. At least, that's what my eyes registered from a really quick look, because no sooner than I'd look down, I felt Sheng tap the back of my head urgently, which generally meant that there's a wild Pokémon that wants to battle for any reason. And indeed, there was one. A Shinx, just a few feet away from us and with an unfriendly scowl, leaning heavily on its hind paws and with its front paws stretched out in front of it, ready to leap.

Like any other time before, the Pokémon on my shoulder hopped onto the ground opposite the new foe, and I caught a glimpse of his confident smirk out of the corner of my eye as he moved past my face. And that was all that was needed for the battle to begin, initiated by a growl from the Shinx as it pounced toward Sheng. For the first time, his speed was closely matched, and it wouldn't have surprised me at all if I learnt that the Shinx had been in a few battles before. It landed the first hit, and the second as well, a quick swipe across Sheng's face after staggering him with the aggressive jump.

"Careless…" I hear my Pokémon mutter to himself as his opponent creates some distance and prowls around instead, eyeing Sheng closely, probably to find a weak spot to attack next.

But it's high time that we counterattacked, and its observation is interrupted by a line of bubbles headed straight for it, and he moves aside just in time to avoid getting hit, but we'd anticipated that, and I'd called out previously for Sheng to throw a few at either side of the wild Pokémon to ensure that no matter what it did, they connected.

As it happened, it sidestepped gracefully to the right, and looked at me this time with a bit of a smile that I couldn't see for long as three bubbles of compressed energy detonated painfully in the little lion Pokémon's face, making it whimper…I'd have said masculinely, but I can't remember it well enough to be sure.

Sheng followed that up with a quick rush to get a few hits in. This tactic had become pretty much his bread and butter ever since he learned how to use Bubble. For the first time, though, it backfired. The Shinx must've been expecting it, because it just stood still, not trying to fight the sting from the bubbles anymore, probably listening closely, and when Sheng was nearly upon him, it was too late for my warning to reach him in time, and the wild Pokémon threw himself in Sheng's direction, pinning him to the ground and blindly biting him.

The worst part is I allowed it to go on for several seconds that must've felt eternal to my companion as I threw the bag off my back to reach for his Pokéball and recall him to safety, then make a run for it. The red beam appeared, as usual, snaking over to Sheng and soon, he became the same color and the Shinx was left with nothing underneath it, but more blood than I'd have liked.

Even with the backpack, the running away is pretty easy, and I don't think the wild Pokémon follows me as I dash down the road toward the ever-closer Jubilife City. Naturally, I can't run all that time, and I slow down after only a minute, still holding the Pokéball in my hand. I pant and wheeze, coming to a full stop. While Sheng's in the Ball, he won't bleed too much, and should be generally a lot safer than outside, but the sooner I get to a Pokémon Center, the better. In fact, I'm tempted to use the Potion I got earlier to heal him now and give myself some peace of mind.

But just then, I come across a kid, around twelve or so, with a Pichu in his arms looking around the grass, but he looks up when I approach, still panting and probably not with the best facial expression.

"Hey, excuse me!" He calls out to me as I move past him and, gritting my teeth at the interruption, I turn around and stare at him, probably more harshly than I should, and I see the Pichu's ears droop a little.

"You seem to be in a hurry, which is common enough. I don't like battling, so even though we met eyes, we don't have to, but I just wanted to let you know you're ten minutes from the Pokémon Center that way." He holds his hand out to point the way I was just heading until he interrupted me.

"Uh…thanks?" I say, and the kid just smiles and begins to turn to keep inspecting the grass. The Pichu waves at me and squeaks something cutely enough.

In my irritated state, it takes me a while to realize that with my mind put at ease that the Pokémon Center's close by, I don't feel the urgent need to use the Potion, and I can take the rest of the walk with more ease, knowing that I won't run into any more wild Pokémon if I stick to the path and don't have a Pokémon of my own to be seen.

Sure enough, the kid's word turns out to be true, and it's only seven minutes and one more curve in Route 202 until the road turns into tiles, and before I know it, there are skyscrapers on each side of me, and a bunch of people and Pokémon moving around the street in the afternoon light. This is a familiar enough part of Jubilife to me, but even if it weren't, there are signs that show the way to 'Southern Jubilife Pokémon Center'. It figures that there'd be more than one in a city as large as this.

I try to enjoy the walk through the busy streets, but honestly, cities just aren't my thing, and I'm too worried about having an injured Pokémon on my first day to care. Nobody offers any help or advice to me, as is to be expected, and I don't feel I need any more interruptions.

Finally, after turning a few more corners, I come to a square, which has a street going in every direction. The one I came from, one directly opposite me, and one to my left and right side, and on those streets are skyscrapers with bright neon signs, and even more torrents of people that flood in and out. The plaza is decorated with a few rows of trees and benches underneath their shade in which all kinds of people and Pokémon sit down to rest and chat.

In the center of the square is the Pokémon Center, about five stories high, much bigger than the one in Sandgem. I make a beeline for it, with a familiar red line marking the space between every floor and of course, the roof is red, as well.

The main room is surprisingly empty, with only three other trainers sitting in the comfortable couches and chairs in the side of the brightly lit space. Opposite the glass doors I just came through is a counter, behind which are Nurse Joy and a Chansey, and, from what I know, behind the door behind them, is where they nurse your Pokémon back to health. I approach the pair, both to ask to get my Pokémon healed and to ask for a room to spend the night. Nurse Joy smiles brightly the moment she notices I'm going to over to talk to her. She claps her hands together and places them on the counter.

"Good evening! Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center!" She greets me cheerfully, and the Chansey next to her bounces excitedly. I can't help but smile. Just the atmosphere of this place makes me feel more relaxed, the smell, the lighting, and apparently the staff fits right in. "How may we help you, ah…?"

"Victor," I complete, and she nods politely for me to go on. "I was wondering if there was a room free for me to use tonight. And…my Pokémon could use some medical assistance, I think…" I say the last part more quietly and looking down at the Pokéball still in my hand, which I now hold up for Nurse Joy to see, and she nods again.

"Ah, yes. We don't have too many clients tonight, it seems, so your Pokémon should be fine later this evening. As for a room…" she unclasps her hands and reaches one under the counter, pulling out a card key and handing it over to me. "Second floor, room twelve sound good?"

"Wonderful, thank you." I take the card from her and hand over Sheng's Pokéball. Just like that, it's actually difficult to believe that I don't have to explain how he got hurt or any of that. I'm starting to see now why so many Pokémon Trainers love Pokémon Centers.

Nurse Joy hands the Pokéball to Chansey, and the Pokémon carries it off into the back room with a wave to me as it goes. Nurse Joy then turns back to me with a half-smile and bows her head. "Thank you for counting on us, Victor. Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks again," I answer, and move away from the counter to find the way up to my room. I can at least take off the bag for a while, that'd be quite appreciated. And while I wait for Sheng to be treated…I suppose I could make a few calls, I don't quite feel like going for a walk around Jubilife.

There's an elevator in the corner to my right, and I walk over to it and press the button. There's a stairwell right next to the elevator, but I'm in no mood for physically climbing up anything anymore today. The inside of the lift is also lit by yellow lights, and it makes a remarkably long trip to the second floor. Funny how last time I was going up in an elevator in Jubilife City, I was a whole lot more worried. Even though it was little more than a week ago, it feels like a month since I took the exam.

Also in contrast to last time, the hallway that the doors open to is bright, and empty. A dark red rug runs down the length of it, and even if it is almost as long as the entire building, there are only ten doors in the entire corridor, as Pokémon Centers are made more with the intention of being comfortable rather that to house a large amount of people. My room was room twelve, and sure enough, there's a small plaque beside the second door on the right that has the number _12 _on it. Inserting the card into the slot in the electronic lock, the door clicks open and a light on the lock beeps green. The inside is mostly dark, but it lights up dimly once I place the card key into a slit in the wall.

The room has a pleasant scent, unsurprisingly. Pokémon Centers are cleaned very often and very thoroughly due to the many smells that a Trainer and anywhere from one to goodness-knows-how-many Pokémon in the same room can leave. There's a shower to my immediate right after opening the door, or, well, a full-scale bathroom, actually. The room itself has a bed large enough for three people, I think to myself. That's maybe an exaggeration. It looks quite plush and comfortable. On the wall in front of the bed is a flat-screen TV atop a small cupboard. There are nightstands on either side of the bed, and the furthest wall from me is completely covered by curtains, though I can see a bit of light penetrating them in a vaguely square shape.

It's not that much to take in, though, just a typical room for Pokémon Centers, and, I presume, hotels. The first thing I do is take off the large backpack and sigh in appreciation. I leave it near the door, leaning against the wall, and then kick the door closed behind me. The further I get into the room, I notice that above the bed hangs a small map of the Sinnoh Region, which could be handy, and there are various paintings of Pokémon decorating the other walls. I switch off the lights I consider unnecessary, then slide open the curtains to let in some natural illumination.

I grin as I part the blinds. It seems that some of my fortune has accompanied me this far, since even if I had a nice view out home, the one from here isn't bad at all, either. I can see straight down one of the streets that led to the plaza, not the one I came from, and all the glowing skyscrapers in the distance…I think I can make out the Jubilife TV building from here and all kinds of people in the street as the sky turns ever more orange. It's quite calming, and it makes me forget about the constant nagging feeling in my head that I could've probably done something more to avoid Sheng getting hurt.

So…those calls I mentioned earlier would probably the best way to completely forget the issue. I reach into the pocket of my pants and switch on my phone, staying in front of the window and staring at my reflection in the crystal while I wait for it, nervous before I even know who I'm planning to call first. I spend three minutes in my contact list debating between Clyde, Lisa, Justin, and Miranda…Mom's number is there, but she isn't an option, of course. In the end, I decide that the first person that'd be interested in having news from me would be Lisa, and I dial her and bring the phone up to my ear. It takes her three rings to pick up (probably taking off a glove or two), but then I'm quickly greeted by her voice, sounding a little different and quite a bit happier.

"Victor!" She squeals my name into the speaker. "I was beginning to think you'd never call! What's up?"

Well, it hasn't been that long since last we saw each other, right? She's probably just missing the sight of Sheng, if I know her.

"Sorry, Lisa. But I just got to Jubilife not too long ago and I thought I might as well give you that call you mentioned."

"Don't mind that. How've you been? Any incidents?"

It's probably not worth telling her how worried I was about the thing with the Shinx. More likely than not it's actually a frequent thing, and I'm convinced he'll be all right, anyhow.

"I've been good, thanks. Haven't done much, but I can't complain. How about you? Did Polly give you lip during the entire flight?" I ask, a grin creeping onto my face as I remember the Ace Trainer's sneaky move of dropping food. The comment makes her giggle.

"Hah, no, in fact, she didn't talk once during it, instead! That's quite uncharacteristic of her, so I supposed it must've made her sulkier than I thought."

Already, I falter when it comes to carrying on the conversation, but thankfully, Lisa knows that much about me and is there to pick up the slack.

"Now, Victor, you're nice and all, but I know you're not the type to call just to exchange pleasantries. Need some advice, I assume?" She speaks incredibly confidently, as if she already knew and was just checking to be proven right anyhow, but I don't mind, even sighing out in relief a little. It saves me bringing up the subject awkwardly.

"Yeah, actually. If you don't mind me asking?" I ask, hopefully.

"Bah, not at all. I'm hardly busy right now, anyway." It sounds quite sincere. "So, what's worrying you? Where to go next?" When she brings that up, I finally think of moving away from the window and I sit on the bed to have the map of Sinnoh for reference. All the routes are marked clearly, and the mattress is quite plush, so it's more comfortable than standing, too. I nod, even though she can't see me do it.

"You got it. It's just…I'm not sure if I should go towards Oreburgh first, or perhaps Floaroma. What would you do?" Well, that didn't help, now that I think of it. Clearly those are my only two options right now. Well, there's Canalave, but I don't think heading there yet is a good idea.

"Well…" she takes a moment to think, and then breathes into the speaker. "Well, I guess that depends on what you want to do. There's no hurry to reach either of the two places, but I think Oreburgh'd be closer anyway, probably a day or so away if you go quickly. However, you don't have to reach Floaroma if you go to Route 204. Quite a few new Trainers like to practice there, and I remember quite an abundance of Budew and Kricketot there. Either could be a nice addition to your team, and there's a massive difference between having one Pokémon to count on and two…in the good and bad ways." She says the last part in a warning nature. "You could just go there to train and perhaps catch a new Pokémon, and head towards Oreburgh a few days after that. Or keep going and go straight for Floaroma Town."

I digest the information while she talks. All her points make quite some sense, as is to be expected of an Ace Trainer, and Rock-type Pokémon are common in Oreburgh city, so if I caught, say, a Budew, I should be able to train more easily with the other Trainers there. I might even coincide with Justin, since he was heading for Oreburgh straight up. I could see myself spending a few more days staying in this Pokémon Center, just training before going through Route 203.

"…Victor? You there?" I hear Lisa on the other side of the line, sounding more amused than worried. I shake my head to bring myself back.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. That's all good advice, thank you. I'll tell you what I do. Any other information to offer?"

She takes a moment to reflect on the question. "Well, I suppose that you should look into stocking up on things at the Poké Mart after you get yourself a bit of money." Man, what's up with people plugging Poké Marts today?

"I'll look into it. Thanks again." And I find myself with nothing else to say, but I manage to catch myself this time. "What are you up to now?" I ask, trying to sound interested, but, to my surprise, I don't have to try too hard and it comes out naturally.

"Oh, nothing interesting. I'm at Eterna City right now, actually. Some work for the League, you know. I'll keep you posted if I see anything weird that you might want to investigate when you get here, though."

Before I can answer, I hear a noise in the background, and she speaks up again, sounding more irritated and apologetic.

"Darn, I'm afraid someone else is calling. I should pick up. Talk to you later?" She asks.

"Sure. Thank you for your time, Lisa." I get the words out quickly, to avoid getting hung up on.

"You too!" Is her swift, but cheerful answer, and then there's a click and nothing more from the other side.

The talk with Lisa leaves me with a smile on my face and a clearer idea of what to do next, but nothing's solid just yet. I talked with her for longer than I thought, though, and the sun's already sunk below the buildings of Jubilife, leaving only the last rays of twilight to light up the world. I feel like testing out the bathroom I passed earlier, as well, just to see if it's as comfortable as the rest of the room, but I should try to make all my other calls before that. I sigh, contently, though, as I lie down the bed, getting comfortable, and call Clyde next. The man picks up halfway through the first ring.

"Hey there, son," he greets me, in a friendly yet gruff way, very characteristic of him. "Whatcha callin' for? There anythin' we can help ye with?"

He makes a good point, I really only called because they asked us to, and because they might be able to tell me whether any of my two 'friends' did, as well.

"No, thank you, nothing in particular. I've made it to Jubilife today…" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"I'm sure the city is glad to have ye back," he states dryly. "Gemma and I are usually here, too, but there's no reason for ye to visit us. Nice that you called, though."

That does sound kind of forced, too, and it's good that I was in a good mood from calling Lisa earlier, because Clyde isn't helping maintain it. "Miranda called yesterday night, said that she'd be leaving Floaroma…" he pauses. "Right about now, actually!" He says, chuckling and coughing somewhat at the end of it. "And that noisy kid called a few hours back. He mentioned tryin' to go through Route 203 tomorrow mornin'. I was thinkin' maybe you should give 'im a call and meet up with 'im before he goes, maybe even go with 'im?" He suggests. It's not uncommon for various Trainers to set out in pairs, and like Justin would say, I'm just in time to do so with him.

"I'll see what's what," I promise him, and that seems to satisfy him.

"Good. Don't hesitate to call again if you have any questions. And, uh, mind keepin' us informed of any kind of interestin' behavior you notice in your Froakie? They're not a native species to Sinnoh, and though they've been researched plenty, more info could always help us look better."

I agree to that as well, and the rest of the conversation is mainly a few bits of chit chat here and there.

"Well, I won't take up any more of your time," I say, finally. Clyde chuckles and tries not to sound thankful.

"Alright. Thanks again fer callin', son." And then he, too, hangs up.

I sigh and roll over onto my stomach. A look at my Pokétch tells me time, but that thing happens to me where I forget the numbers the moment I look away from the watch, and I have to check again. There's probably fifteen minutes until my usual dinner time, and still no news of Sheng…

To push that out of my mind, I decide to call the emotionally coldest person I know: Miranda. I like to think we got along decently, but she was too polite, so then again she must be like that with everyone not called Justin. Or, for her, John or whatever she thinks his name is. And if she just set out, maybe she could illuminate me on how she made up her mind. However, after a few rings and several deep breaths from me to brace myself for a no doubt difficult conversation, my call goes to voicemail, even if I don't decide to leave a message. She must have her phone off or she isn't paying attention to it. A shame. I suppose.

That leaves only Justin to call…I sigh. Well, at least we've got plans to arrange for tomorrow, or so it seems, so there'll be something quick and to the point to discuss. There's three rings and only one second and one word before I groan.

"Hey, _Bedhair_! You called just in time!" Incredibly, he still snorts after the joke he must've made fifty times already today. "I just got back from dinner. My grandma makes this sweet cheeseburger, you've no idea! If I'd known you were around, I'd have invited you over. Or tried to, but grandma probably wouldn't let you in unless you used a comb first!" He's got a joking tone, but he probably isn't aware that he's being kind of a jerk. "So what's up? How can I help you this fine evening?" And suddenly he's a gentleman. I'm in a stunned silence for a second before I can work out the words to answer.

"Uh…hey, good evening, Justin. I'm glad you enjoyed your meal. I guess I don't need to ask whether everything's alright?" I say, speaking slowly and cautiously.

"Nope!" He confirms, cheerfully. "So is this about what I said about calling me if you found yourself in Jubilife, or do I owe the pleasure to something else?"

With his sudden politeness, it feels bad to affirm that it's the former. "A little bit of that, and a little bit of needing someone more friendly than Clyde to talk to," I explain.

"Oh, I getcha. 'What are ye callin' me fer? Didya break your legs walkin' down th'stairs?'" He says, in an eerily exact imitation of Clyde's accent which makes me chuckle.

"Wow, that was spot on!" I exclaim, and he 'bah's despectively on the other side.

"It's nothing. So, hey, does that mean we could meet up tomorrow? I'm sure we have tons to tell each other, but we might as well show it, too. You were from Sandgem, right?" He inquires, uncertainly.

"Yeah, that's right, why…?" I begin.

"So that means you're probably staying at the southern Pokémon Center, right? Then I'll drop by there tomorrow at ten-thirty AM, sharp! I'm afraid I should hang up now, though, my mom's calling me…" Ah, that explains the bellows in the background I've been hearing for a while now. "Pleasure speaking to you this evening anyhow, Vic-… Bedhair! Talk to you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight, Jus-"Click. Well then. Turns out that I might actually be able to hold a conversation with Justin completely non-awkwardly, I'm sure if he'd been able to, we would've been able to keep going on for a while about pretty much anything. And if I didn't have any plans for tomorrow, I guess he just kind of made them.

I really feel the need for a shower now, both to continue killing time and to sort out my thoughts on how to proceed with my Journey and when. The bathroom's got a tub even larger than mine back home, which I'm sure Sheng'll enjoy later tonight, and the offered selection of shampoo and body gel have a pleasant smell. I take my time with the shower, forgetting to plan my Journey halfway through and simply enjoying it without many thoughts at all, for the most part. I come out of it ten minutes later and a few clouds of steam follow in my wake when I step out.

After drying and getting dressed again, there's a sudden knock on the door when I come out of the bathroom, still toweling my hair thoroughly. It's only had enough time to get ruffled before I open the door, and I can imagine myself living up to Justin's nickname, or getting a new one in the form of _Showerhair_.

Behind the door is Nurse Joy, beaming brightly and with a familiar blue Pokémon in her arms that hops straight for my shoulder the second the door is open. I acknowledge it with a step back and a chuckle, and then bow my head appreciatively at Nurse Joy, who doesn't give me enough time to say 'Thank you'.

"We took the liberty of feeding him as well; Pokéblocks mixed with a few crushed Berries to ensure he'll be right as rain tomorrow. That kind of injury is nothing too serious; just saying that because you seemed quite worried. Not that that's a bad thing, that's what being a Trainer is about! Once again, thank you, and we hope to see you again!" She bows forward almost mechanically and turns to go back down to the main room.

"Thank you!" I call after her before shutting the door again. I turn my head to my right shoulder with a grin, but Sheng's not there when I look. Instead, I hear his voice coming from the bathroom, and it's not just his tone that lets me know he's already back to normal.

"Food was good, but a bath would make it better."

And it's clear what he means.

* * *

We don't get a whole lot done more that evening. I have another, different sandwich for dinner, as well as an apple and drinking more water, and that's enough to satisfy me today. Sheng eventually joins me in sitting on the bed mindlessly watching Jubilife TV, first the mildly interesting news of the day, like a flight show from a few Braviary to celebrate some festival or another in the Unova region. We watch an episode of a sitcom I've got to admit I kind of like, called 'Humerus'. It's funny because one of the main characters is a Cubone, and because it's also rare for a Cubone to be funny. The Pokémon's voices have to be dubbed, but it's convincing enough, and I live for puns like the titular one, of which there are plenty in the series. I'd already seen this particular episode, but it succeeds in both making me laugh and making me sleepy before bed.

With all the lights off and the curtains covering the window again, I can see nothing in the room, but I can clearly hear plenty of sounds coming in from outside, more cars than anything else in the distance, but rarely a laughter or the cry of a Pokémon. It takes me longer than back home, and longer than it does Sheng, curled up on the opposite side of the bed, but eventually, I drift off to sleep.

* * *

And the sleeping itself only feels like a blink, when suddenly, I'm awake again and the noise outside seems to have picked up. I feel like I've sunk so far into the soft mattress, I must've left my shape on it permanently, and I near-literally climb out of bed after a minute of staring at the darkness to pull aside the thick curtains and shed some more light on the situation, even if there's a bit already filtering through them. I don't complain when I'm greeted by the same sight as yesterday afternoon, either. Well, maybe a little, as it dazzles me and I groan and cover my eyes with my arm. There are no clouds this morning, it seems, and it still looks quite early.

Having showered yesterday both morning and night, I don't need to right now, but I spend five minutes in the bathroom anyway to make sure my hair is neat enough, to prove a point to the Nurse Joy that it was a fluke…and yes, she probably noticed it was wet, but you can thank Justin for me becoming self-conscious about it. Taking the card key and Sheng's Pokéball, I we head on outside after I'm done.

Down in the lobby, there are the Trainers from yesterday, well, the two that are awake, and one of them kindly lets me know that the Pokémon Center offers free meals to Trainers that stay there and their Pokémon. Funnily enough, she explains this amicably in stark contrast to the Drapion behind her giving me a death glare as it chomps on some Berry I can't even recognize. We go ahead and make the order, sitting on one of the couches near the wall of the room to wait. It's a light blue color, and were it not for his bubbles I might lose Sheng in it. He's looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully, but we haven't talked much ever since Nurse Joy brought him back, never mind that we were busy sleeping, bathing, or watching TV then, and it makes me feel like I should say something.

"Hey." His head snaps back down from the ceiling and his eyes meet mine inquisitively. He sure doesn't look angry…and Nurse Joy said that it wasn't a bad wound, but both of those only make me feel guiltier. "I'm sorry for what happened yesterday, I should not have thought you could go on..."

To my surprise, he holds up a hand to stop me, squinting at me in an almost annoyed fashion. "Don't apologize. I got careless, that's all. In fact, if it weren't for you I'd clearly be a goner. That Shinx, she was quite fierce."

Well, that duly clears up the mystery from yesterday. Turns out I was wrong, apparently. A Chansey begins to approach us, carrying a large tray of food, but Sheng keeps talking.

"I can take a bit more than that, don't you worry, but I'll try not to fail again. Worry not," he assures me, and his eyes tell me that he's putting an end to that subject. Apparently, losing wounded his pride harder than it did his body. And here he had been all 'I don't know if I can do it' before his first battle, and now he's got a record to uphold? I mutter a quick "You did well, anyhow" to him right before we're handed the food. It's pretty apparent that it won't be Mrs. Sanders caliber, but it'll do.

When we step outside after eating for a walk, the feeling of not having anything to do and liking it is back. Sheng taps me on the shoulder, but before I look at him, I decide to take a quick look at my Pokétch. The time is ten-thirty. Huh, weird, I could've sworn that something was meant to happen now. Then I realize why he tapped, and it all comes rushing back like a tidal wave washing over and refreshing my memory. And it doesn't come alone, but accompanied with an excited "I almost didn't recognize you with that hairstyle, but you're just in time!"

To the right, there's Justin, without a doubt. Hair both spikier and blonder than Kyle's, eyes a bright green and a grin as wide as his face, wearing jeans and, oddly, a black-and-white checkered vest on top of a plain white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, never mind the chilly breeze. The dark green pack that he got when I got mine is on his back. His hand is extended toward me, and, perhaps most curious of all, right by his leg is a Pokémon, a Riolu, looking at me, as well, with perfect inexpressiveness.

I shake his hand back and smile weakly, and together, we both start to walk in a random direction, apparently, towards the east, judging by the position of the sun. Five steps in, he jumps in shock.

"Whoa, I just noticed that Pokémon on your shoulder! Is that a Tympole?!" He exclaims, incredulous and pointing a shaky finger at Sheng, that blinks confusedly at him. There's a sound from the floor, and the Riolu mutters something that only he can understand, but judging from the tone he's exasperated with his Trainer.

"Oh, right, a Froakie," he corrects himself, scratching behind his ear as he falls back into step with me. "That's pretty cool, not sure where you got one. I guess it's my responsibility, as a citizen, to ask you, how's Jubilife City treating you?"

I smile a bit at the question and look away from the intensity of his eyes to the skyscrapers around us, and realize that all in all, it's done quite well, especially for a city. I don't like thinking that my mother's in a coma in the hospital here, because other than that, I've quite liked it so far. I shrug. "Well, it's not bad; I guess that I could've gotten a better guide, but…"

He frowns at the teasing and play-shoves me. "I'll have you know I haven't gotten lost in Jubilife City _**ever**_ since I took out the trash two weeks ago!"

Sheng feels the need to comment on that, even if, or perhaps because, he knows that Justin won't understand him. "I'm so glad we've got him with us." Riolu, which is walking a step ahead of us and does understand, even seems to smirk, from what I can see of the side of its face. To cover him up, I say "I feel a lot better now, thanks, Justin."

We turn a corner and I notice a sign that says we're headed toward Route 203, which reminds me of Clyde telling me that Justin was planning to leave today, which explains why he's got his pack.

"Hey, Clyde…" I begin.

"Gramps," he corrects me, half-smiling, and then nodding. "Sorry, go on."

"_Gramps_," I start anew, and the emphasis on the word makes his smile get the missing half. "He told me that you were planning on leaving for Oreburgh today."

Justin shrugs and nods imperturbably. "Yeah, that's right, where do you think we're hea-… oh, I see. Forgot your bag?" He asks, despite the answer being clear, and he stops right in his tracks. Without looking back, Riolu somehow seems to know that he has, and it turns around and walks back to join us.

"That's not really it…" I murmur, scratching my left arm. "Thing is, I was thinking maybe I should stay around Jubilife a few more days, maybe check out Route 204 before going anywhere…?"

"Nonsense! If you don't get going soon, you'll never do it!" He protests, frowning for the first time today and taking a step away from me. His Pokémon looks impassively from its Trainer to me and Sheng and back.

"Sorry, man, I'd have loved to go with you, but…" Once again, I'm interrupted.

"Then how about we settle it with a friendly match?" He blurts out, and suddenly three pairs of eyes dart to him, making him visible more nervous, but he manages to keep his voice steady and proceed. "We just head back to the square where it's more open and have a friendly battle. Our first with each other and another Trainer, right?" I nod, confirming that. "Then it's perfect! Winner gets to decide what the Victor does!" He proclaims, with a teasing smile at the joke, and I admit it makes me smile before recovering my frown and raised eyebrows. However, Sheng speaks up.

"You know, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. None of us will get hurt in a friendly match, at least, not severely, and I could use the training against a new type of Pokémon." I look at him and feel my heart sink when I find him with a confident expression.

"Yeah, but what if we're not ready? For that or for leaving just yet?" I counter, but he shakes his head.

"Just trust me, I have a feeling this will go just fine."

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Fine…" Looking back at Justin, who is apparently discussing something with Riolu about 'I don't want to be alone with _you_ all the way to Oreburgh', I wait patiently for them to be finished, but he notices Sheng and I looking and ends it quickly with a nervous smile.

"So what do you say?"

"It couldn't hurt," I say, shrugging, and that makes him grin fiercely.

* * *

There are already a dozen or so people at the square and at least ten of them find a comfortable spot to watch me and Justin square off (heh). There are no hard feelings, of course, and I have a feeling this is actually going to be quite fun. We smile quickly at each other, and he speaks first, looking down to the floor by his leg.

"Alright, Leo, you got this!" He says, and the Riolu, Leo, mutters something to him again as he steps forward a few feet in front of Justin and a few more away from me and bends his knees, getting into a fighting stance. There's a cheer, or more like a squeal, from a girl or two in the crowd.

"Do your best, Sheng," I say, staring at him out of the corner of my eye, which is becoming a habit, and he stares back.

"Don't I always?" He asks in a bemused manner as he hops onto the ground a short distance away from Leo. A girl in the crowd that I recognize as the Trainer with the Drapion from the Pokémon Center steps forward, holding up her hand, and then drops it with a cry of "Begin!"

"Quick Attack!" Comes immediately from Justin, and a response is less than a second away from his Pokémon which nods and dashes forward to strike Sheng. There's no way he can dodge it, and it seems we both realize that he should block it, but I only get the 'B' out when the Riolu is upon him, so I might as well not have said anything. Fortunately, he manages to deflect the paw of the enemy Pokémon with his hand and smack his other one against the body of his assailant, which disengages with a graceful leap backward and an annoyed snarl.

"You know what to do," I say when I realize that for once, the distance has been made for us, and there's an affirmative croak from Sheng, its meaning so basic that there was nothing more for me to understand. He concentrates for a moment, and then spurts out a small field of bubbles at Leo.

Justin seems effectively unsure how to deal with this but quickly he gets an idea. "Just use Foresight and try to avoid it!"

It doesn't even seem to be a case of 'easier said than done', either. Riolu's eyes begin to glow a strange dark blue color, and it flawlessly begins to dodge Bubble after Bubble as they begin to reach him. Still, it works as a distraction, and Sheng bounces up high into the air and begins to descend straight toward Leo, much like he did against that first Starly. Unfortunately, he grunts loudly as his palm meets nothing but the floor and the Riolu effortlessly dances aside, evading the strike and then jumping over a Bubble without missing a beat. All of them have passed now, so he's free to strike again while Sheng recovers from his failed attack, and he does so ever so gladly with a barrage of quick punches at the exposed chest of the Froakie. Rather than try to get out of it, though, he braves the hits and manages to spit out a couple of bubbles right into Leo's face, which pop, forcing him to stop his assault and wipe his eyes clean.

However, he does that rather than try to back off first, which leaves the Pokémon wide open to a few hits back from Sheng, and he takes advantage of the situation, landing a solid, firm Pound onto the unprotected stomach of the Riolu. This one is unusually powerful and actually knocks the other Pokémon back a few feet onto the ground.

Victory is looking to be within our reach easily right now, since Leo is still rubbing his eyes with his paws while he stands up, first getting on one knee shakily. All Sheng's got to do is run forward and get another hit and the match should go to us. We make eye contact for a moment and I nod, confirming this, since I know he feels it as well. Looking up at Justin, who hasn't said another word, it looks like he knows as well, and his expression makes me certain that we managed to win. Sheng is already on the move, and just as he begins to jump again to finish closing the distance, I hear a cry from Justin.

"Stop! Just stay calm and use Foresight, then Endure, and finally…"

His own Pokémon cuts him off this time, which serves him just right. Leo has finished getting up, but instead of trying to clear his eyes, he let his paws drop and shuts his eyes tight, focusing and seeing a vision in his head, most likely. Then, his fur begins to glow, just a little, but the blue indubitably becomes a little lighter, and the black shines in the sunlight. The effect is brief, but he uses it just in time, like his trainer would say.

The ability allows him to mostly shrug off the swipe of Sheng's hand, though both the Pokémon cry out in effort, and then comes the counter. Deftly, Leo grabs Sheng's outstretched hand and pulls on it oddly and upwards, lifting him into the air and promptly sending him back onto the ground by jumping up beside him, raising his leg and dropping it down violently. He times the kick so that he hits Sheng in the back and he doesn't land on his bubbles, landing on the ground with a harsh thud. In contrast, Leo lands back down next to him on his toes, like always.

I can see Sheng is still breathing, though heavily, but his look tells me that he can't go on any longer, and the more experienced Trainer in the crowd steps forward again and shakes her arms in the air. "The winner is Riolu!" She proclaims.

The four of us stay still for a moment, and then Justin is the first to reach as he sprints toward the Pokémon, and I follow quickly. Though, to my surprise, the first thing the other boy does is pick up Sheng and check him for any more serious injury. He's got a few bruises here and there, but he was far worse yesterday, and when I take him back into my own arms he's merely panting heavily rather than fighting to breathe.

"Careless, again…" Sheng chides himself, subsequently bringing a hand up to his head. "Head…spinning…might feel better after a while in the Ball…" he explains.

I nod and smile at him. "You did a good job. I'll see you soon," I say, as I reach into my pocket for the Ball and show it to him. He wastes no time pressing on the button himself and retreating back inside for now, leaving my arms empty of any Pokémon. I sigh and look up only to notice that Leo's nowhere to be found, either, so he must've also asked for a break. Instead, my eyes meet Justin's piercing green ones, and we both smile and shake hands again as we get up. The crowd has dispersed already.

"That was tight!" He exclaims, his eyes glinting with enthusiasm and looking just like a kid who just got off a roller coaster and wants to go again. "I'm pretty sure if we had a rematch, you'd win that one." He pats me on the back in a friendly way, and I chuckle.

"Yeah, well, your Riolu…Leo, was it? He's pretty strong, for real!"

"Yeah, Leo. He's always insisting that I should call him Leonardo." That explains what he muttered at the start of the fight, I think. "Anyhow, that means I get to decide what we do with you, right?" He asks, and the glow in his eyes only seems to get brighter.

"I-I suppose…" I mutter, frightfully anticipating what might come next, even though I suspect it'll be making me come along with him in Route 203. Justin seems to have more surprises for me, however.

"I think you should do whatever you like!" He decides, spontaneously, then gets serious. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that because you lost you're not ready or worthy or anything, like I said before I think you could've won. It's just, I don't want to force you, and looking back, that was kind of selfish…" He sighs. "Besides, I might stay a while at Oreburgh, training, so when you finally decide to head there, I'll definitely still be there, and we can meet back up?" There's an undeniable hopefulness in his voice.

I smile widely and nod. "Of course, man, count on it. This was quite fun!"

He nods, and we just smile at each other like idiots for a while until he sighs and rolls his shoulders. "Well, this pack isn't going to get any lighter, so I should be off now. It was good to be able to have a bit of fun before I go, though", he assures me again.

"Want me to go with you?" I ask, more out of politeness than anything else, but it doesn't matter because he declines instantaneously.

"No, no, please, I'm good! Just take it slow and enjoy Jubilife. I'll see you soon, make sure to call!" He says, and then just turns and starts walking away briskly. Notably, the backs of his ears are flushed red, for some reason.

"Take care!" I call after him, and he waves quickly over his shoulder, and then is gone.


End file.
